


Amelia's story

by LegendsOfTime



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29039205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegendsOfTime/pseuds/LegendsOfTime
Summary: The usual tale of a someone dying then waking up in one of their favourite TV show with, what I hope, is a twist.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. The awakening

Well I died.

Well I did not just simply die. I got stabbed in the back – literally – by my ex. I thought we had split amicably, but apparently not considering.

I mean, I did try to fight back but when someone stabs then keeps going, you have only so much reaction time.

I suppose my obsession of watching murder documentaries finally caught up with me. I can't help but wonder whether there will be one about mine though knowing my dad, probably not.

But this story is not about my murder (though that could be an entirely different tale). No it's about what happened afterwards.

I never really thought about what would happen when I died. Wait, no that was a lie. I wondered if I would be reincarnated I suppose or just simply go to some sort of afterlife. Or maybe I would wake up in the world of one of the very first Tv shows that I got obsessed with and I mean watching lots of YouTube videos, tumblr, reading fanfiction and watching it so many times that my brother got completely turned off from the show (A/N: this actually happened).

I genuinely did not think this would happen, I mean fanfiction is just that! Fanfiction!

But hey ho here I am.

However, unlike most fanfiction where people wake up at the beginning of the first episode of the first series, I woke up while being birthed (took me a while to realise what the sensation was).

Yes I had been reborn as a baby but not only that, I still had my own mind, my own memories from my previous life. I had died and then come back as a baby but had the mind of a 21 year old (can I say being breastfeed was a weird experience).

From what I remember is that everything went black then suddenly there was this force pushing me forward. Then I abruptly experienced a falling sensation before being caught by a pair of hands. It took me a moment to realise that the crying noise I heard was actually me.

I was then wrapped up in a blanket before being carried towards, what I then realised, was a bowl of water as I was then rubbed down. It took me a while but when I was able to, I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was a blurry face with long white hair was starring at me.

"A healthy baby girl My Lady" He said. From the sound of his voice I could tell that he was middle aged man.

"No," cried a female voice. "Do not show me her. It will only hurt me more!"

I would've listened more but due to the fact that I had only just been born (I was still physically a baby), I fell asleep again. I was only again woken by the feeling of being bounced up and down. Opening my eyes I could see the same blurry figure as before I went to sleep above me. I realised that we must be on top of a horse though I did not know what our destination was but. I could tell that it was night time due to how dark everything was.

After a while we slowed to a stop and the man, with me in his arms, got off the horse before walking towards what I could see to be a Manor House. The man knocked n the door and waited till the door opened and a woman steeped out of the house closing the door behind her.

"Is that her Gaius?" She whispered.

"Yes My Lady," Gaius responded. Gaius. Huh. That name is familiar.

I then felt myself be moved from Gaius's arms to the lady's. She felt warm and comforting. Safe.

"Know one should know where she came from. She is George's and I's daughter now" said the woman.

"Of course My Lady".

The woman then turned around and stepped inside the house closing the door behind her. I could not help but think: 'What the hell is going on?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter was enjoyable and interesting. Please let me know on your thoughts of what has gone on so far.


	2. The beginning of my new life

Over time I came to realise what had happened. I had died and then I had been reborn. As a baby. Not one of the most ideal situations. I also came to realise how the world I had been born into was not set in the 21st century. The way they spoke and dresses were massive indications of this among other things.

And even though I had meet this man called Gaius, who I soon realised had the same name as the Court Physician in Merlin. But I was still in some what denial at first.

I could tell that the family I was now living with were well to do. For one thing I had a wet nurse, I knew my new mother was not my biological one in my new life and would not be able to breastfeed, but the fact that they could afford one on the first place indicated money. Plus the furnishings in the home or of what little I could see of it in the beginning.

My new Mother was called Helen, who lived with her husband George. George was nice I suppose. He wasn't necessarily a warm person but he was kind enough. He warmed up to more as I got older. He probably did not know what to do with a baby. I blame it on his upbringing and who he was.

George is a knight you see. I did not realise until when I was older that he was a knight of Camelot. I suppose that was one of the factors that caused me to realise what kind of world I was in. But in my defence he was not a main character on the show. They did not have any specific main knights until series 3. Before that they were just simply anonymous characters till a plot quickly needed one. RIP Sir Bedivere.

Helen, however, was very involved. Well as involved as a woman who was a part of the aristocracy would be. Though she was very kind but even if she was my birth mother in this life, I still wouldn't be able to view her as my real mother; no one could and cannot truly replace my mother from my last life, and knowing she was not my birth mother did not help. Me not having any siblings in this new family meant I was had her sole attention and I could only assume that they took me in due to the fact that they could not have their own.

Being a baby had their disadvantages as well as their advantages. The fact that I had gone from a stressed student that just finished her university degree to a baby who had no responsibilities, the first months of my life were quite peaceful and nice. But as time went on I did get annoyed with how I couldn't do anything myself and not much to entertain me. This caused me to run my wet nurse and then my nanny ragged as I constantly demanded their attention because of my boredom (though I secretly enjoyed this).

Adding onto the fact that I could not do anything for myself, I also had to learn had to do everything again. Walking, talking etc. These came with time and initially the only way I could communicate was to just simply cry.

Considering in my previous life I did not start walking until quite late (according to my parents), I was quite the fast walker in my new life. This is probably due to the fact that I kind of knew what to do. With talking, I am very proud to say that my first word was "No", much to my new mother's dismay. Though I made sure that my next word was "mama", which made her very happy.

Having a new life gave my many opportunities to try what I did not in my last life. One of them being exercise. A new life gave me the chance to be more active and not have to worry so much about the aching of my muscles the next day. Running actually became a funny activity, especially when my nanny had to chase after me.

This all makes it sound like I mistreated and hated my nanny but that is not the case. She was the biggest mother figure I had in my life. The one I went to first and my new mother second. I was saddened when she left me when Helen decided that I was old enough to have a governess and start my education.

The moment when I really needed to come to terms with the fact that this new world was the Merlin TV show was when Helen and George took me to castle to meet Uther Pendragon. I was only a few weeks old at the time and could not see much outside of my cocoon of blankets, so it was only when people leant directly over me that I could see them.

As soon as we arrived, we were brought into the council chambers to meet the King in front of the court.

"Sir George Harold, Lady Helen Harold and Lady Amelia Harold," a heralder announced loudly next to us, which caused me to let out a small cry in Helens arms. She gave me a shush before her and George began walking forwards, the crowds parting as they walked.

"George! Helen! How good of you to come!" Cried a very familiar voice.

"Of course Your Majesty," said George respectfully while bowing. Helen curtsying next to him.

"Please, please rise," Uther said joyfully. "And who is this?"

"Our daughter Amelia, Your Majesty," Helen spoke this time.

Suddenly a face came into my eye line. Uther. I couldn't believe it was him. The man that I had seen millions of times on my TV screen, now he was real and this made me feel quite nervous and the only way I could voice this fact was by of course crying. Helen hurriedly tried to shush me.

"Something to look forward to Your Majesty!" George spoke trying to cover his embarrassment. "How long till the big arrival?"

"Only just over a month," murmured a more demure and quiet voice compared to Uther's. It was a female voice that I did not recognise.

"Ygraine my darling, come meet little Amelia!" Uther said in a loving tone. Oh my god Ygraine. She was still alive, Arthur was not born yet. Uther's tone made feel incredibly sad due to the fact I knew what was going to happen to his wife.

"Your Majesty! Your wife should not be entertaining so close to the birth!" Helen joyously cried. Please what do you know about pregnancy, not that I've experienced pregnancy so I can't really judge.

Helen again began walking forwards and before long another familiar face came into my eye line. Ygraine.

"Oh she is such a sweet little thing," Ygraine said softly. "It is such a good thing that our children are so close in age. They'll be able to play together! As well as my sister, Vivienne's daughter Morgana!"

Ygraine and Vivienne are sisters? Huh, plot twist! Gotta love some drama especially considering who Morgana's real father is.

Helen's voice broke my thoughts however, "Of course, of course Your Majesty," she responded eagerly. "They will grow up with each other like siblings!" Oh honey you've got a big storm coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the show doesn't say they are sisters but I once read a fanfiction once where they were and I enjoyed the twist.
> 
> Please leave a review on what your thoughts are on the story so far.


	3. Becoming too real

Just one week after I had met Ygraine and Uther, disaster happened. I was laying on my blanket outside while Helen relaxed in a chair when a messenger on a horse arrived at the house. At first I did not realise anything was wrong until I heard a shocked gasps coming from Helen.

"George! George!" Cried Helen. "You will never believe what happened!"

"What is it Helen?" George said confusedly as he step out of our home as he heard his wife's cries.

"It is the Queen! She went into labour too early and has passed !" Helen sobbed. This made me confused and I swear Ygraine had another month at least.

George clearly shared my confusion, "but she was not due for another month! She said so herself!"

"It was shock that caused her to go into give birth prematurely." Helen explained. "She had just gotten a letter that her sister had died."

"Vivienne? But she was so well" George asked still sounding very confused.

"They found her in the woods. She had a servant to hand her sister a letter she had written and then ran off." Helen exclaimed. I wonder what happened in the woods?

"Poor Morgana and Gorlois!" George cried. "Uther as well. Did the baby survive?"

"Yes, a healthy baby boy. An heir"

This whole situation was overwhelming. George and Helen obviously believed that as I was only a one month baby that I wouldn't understand what they were talking about. The show never really explained what happened to Morgana and Morgause's mother. It does sound very dodgy though. Vivienne simply rode into the woods after telling someone to send a letter to her sister before being found dead. What happened in the woods and what was in that letter that caused Ygraine's early labour?

I knew that the Great Purge was going to begin now. Uther likely used magic to impregnate his wife like he did in the show and now he is going to punish thousands of innocent people for something they cannot control to lessen his guilt. It is also going to make a lot of people angry and vengeful and this caused my mind to drift towards Morgause. She was likely with the High Priestesses at the Isle of the Blessed by now. Though I knew I did not need to worry about Morgause for a while.

\\\

I did not meet Morgana or Arthur, however, until I was 3 years old. It was another trip to the castle. I had not returned since Ygraine's death and Arthur's birth but George had and sometimes Helen too. This meant that I had not had the opportunity to meet Arthur or Morgana. To be honest I was getting tired of waiting.

When we arrived in the council chambers, court seemed more somber than I remembered and that partly might be due to the fact that Uther was not as joyful himself as he was when I first meet him.

We were announced once again by the heralder, which still made me jump, and then all three of us began walking towards where Uther sat at the other end of the hall.

"Helen, George, it is good to see you," Uther uttered. "You do not come often enough." He gave us a small smile.

"We apologise Sire," George answered respectfully. "I hope you remember our daughter Amelia?" At the sound of my name, I stepped from Helen's side and curtsied like she and my nanny had taught me. Uther simply looked at me with a sad glance.

"My my you've grown haven't you?" This unnerved my slightly and I did not respond until I felt Helen nudge my side with her leg.

"Thank you Your Majesty," I said quietly.

Uther than beckoned a woman that I had notice over to us and when she did a small mop of blonde hair popped from behind her. After analysing him for a minute I realised that this must be Arthur.

"This is my son Arthur," Uther stated proudly. "I am sure the two of you are going to be the best of friends." This caused Arthur to turn his stare towards me and shyly gave me a smile while I returned it.

"Nanny why don't you take the two of them to the nursery," Uther ordered. "I am sure that Gorlois's daughter is already there with her own nanny."

"Yes Sire," the nanny murmured before taking Arthur's hand as well as mine. I looked towards Helen, who gave me an encouraging smile.

The nanny then began to lead Arthur and I down the hall away from the council chambers. We walked down many halls not speaking a word to each other until we arrived at another door. Arthur's nanny knocked and the door opened to reveal another woman.

"Your Highness," the woman uttered curtsying. "Nanny Grey, My Lady." She opened the door.

The three of us stepped into a room of considerable size even though this was a room for one child. Royals. The room must be inside one of the castle's turrets as it was of a round nature. There was the obvious cot in the corner with expensive white silks hanging over it and opposite the cot, on the other side of the room was a large window with the same type of silk as the cot framing it. There was also a door on one side that I didn't know where that led.

After analysing this, I then noticed a young girl with dark hair that might as well of been cut from the same cloth as the silk on the cot and curtains and skin that made it obvious that she did not see the sun often in the middle of the room playing. Morgana.

"My Lady? Arthur is back and he's brought a new friend for all of you to play with." The woman, who opened the door, spoke in clear calm voice. This causes Morgana to glance up and run up to us with a doll in her hands.

She looked at me and bluntly asked, "Who are you?"

"Lady Morgana!" Her nanny immediately scolded. I did not really mind and instead I grabbed Arthur's and Morgana's hands and pulled them towards the toys.

"I am Amelia by the way. We can be friends." I said hoping that this would work because I genuinely did want to be friends with Morgana and get to know her.

"Alright then." She sniffed trying to act like she did not care when she did actually look interested. "Let us all play."

As we began to play Arthur then piped up, "Can I be friends with you too?"

"Of course," I said warmly thinking how adorable Arthur looked at this age, it made me want to squash his cheeks.

\\\

Just as I hoped we all grew up close from that point on, of course Morgana and I were not always in Camelot as Gorlois was still alive and I had my own home with George and Helen. However, we visited often especially on special events, birthdays for example. Wanting to be good friends with the two of them on one hand stemmed from my obsession with the show and wanting to get to know the characters and on the other hand it gemmed from my want to full fill Ygraine's wish that we would be close.

Of course it was not always fun and games. During this time since Arthur's birth, Uther had been executing anyone with some type of magic. Due to the fact that I was to everyone a very small child, I was mostly kept away from the brutality of the Great Purge. Though whenever he could, Uther would bring up his view, what he saw as the correct view, that magic was evil.

When Arthur and I were old enough to have lessons, Helen, George and I moved to the castle, like Morgana had a year earlier, so that I could join Morgana with her governess while Arthur was having his own separate lessons to prepare him for being King. The only lesson we all shared was being taught to sword fight, which Helen was not happy with as she did not see this as very ladylike but George and Gorlois felt that it was important for Morgana and I to learn some type of self defence.

Science was an interesting one due to the fact that it was not developed as it is in the 21st century, not that I remember all that I was taught but I remembered the odd thing, which completely contradicted what I was being taught in Camelot.

One obvious topic that all three of us were taught was the evilness of magic, which annoyed me cause this was Uther's attempt to brainwash all of us. I often openly disagreed with my governess over this and of course this was reported back to Uther. He would often lecture me on how I was only young and did not truly understand the world. I still argued back and from seeing me do this, Morgana would often back me up, which I was grateful for as I was still only small and Uther was very imposing.

However, one day when I was six, Uther had enough and decided to show what happened to people who practised magic and those that helped them. My first execution. I had never seen anyone die in my life ever, especially witnessing someone lose their head. People like Gaius, who I had gotten to know well whenever I need medical help, George and Helen tried to persuade Uther from doing this but he argued that I needed to be taught what happened to those who were 'evil' sorcerers. He seemed the type of parent to give tough treatment, to show children the harsh reality.

It was not a day that you would forget. I remember being led to the balcony by a servant that I did not recognise, I was kept near the back though while Uther stood at the front for all to see. Then the drum beat began, I saw two guards begin to lead the young woman towards the execution block that was in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by a large enough crowd. Uther began his speech of the 'justice' that was going to happen and the 'evilness' off this person as guards led the woman up the steps of the stand the block sat on. I admired this woman for her strength as while looking like she was about to cry, she was able to control her emotions and be calm despite that fact that she was going to die.

As the woman began to kneel down and place her head on the block, I began to feel my blood gushing in my ears, I felt like my heart was beating so loud that everyone could hear it and I was half expecting Uther to turn around and scold me but he didn't. I watched the executioner lift up the axe and began to lower it when Uther gave him the signal.

(A/N: this next chapter is a bit descriptive so if you don't like that skip this next paragraph)

The axe seemed to be moving in slow motion and even though I knew that I should turn my eyes away from the scene so I would not see the woman lose her head, I could not turn my eyes away from it. It got nearer and nearer until there was a thump. The woman's head fell to the floor, blood pouring from the where the head used to be making me feel sick, but the worst bit was seeing how her body carried on twitching for a few moments before going still.

My heart was beating so loud that I did not hear the gasps of the crowd nor Uther calling my name, I could only see the woman's body and the guards putting her head into a basket.

"Amelia, Amelia," Uther cried, but in concern, before grabbing my small shoulders so that I would look at him tearing my gaze from the horrific sight in front of me. "Do you understand Amelia? Do you understand that I do this to protect you from the evil magic causes?"

Only stared at him before fleeing from the balcony towards Gaius's chambers where I hoped to find him leaving Uther yelling my name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	4. Drastic changes

After witnessing someone lose their head, it took me a while to recover due to the fact that I came out of the situation traumatised. I had quite few nightmares about what I saw for a couple years after but Gaius and Helen, as well as Morgana, brought me a lot of comfort. I suppose the one good thing that came out of this situation was that I was able to grow closer to Gaius more than I already had, because before there were not many opportunities for me spend time with him because I was considered to young to spend too much time in his chambers due to all the chemicals and artefacts in there. However, after the execution, he allowed me to spend more time with him and tried to teach me about medicine and the like while growing closer and he became more like a grandfather to me as the years went by.

Another thing that I had slipped down from my list of priorities was meeting the dragon due to how I was always too young to be left on my own and I was constantly watched so I was unable to search for the entrance to where he was kept. But when I was 8, I seized my chance.

I knew that the dragon was kept below Camelot and Merlin was able to get to him by going through the dungeons so I knew I had to start there. Being small was an advantage as this meant that people did not notice me much and I was more able to hide so not to be caught. After sneaking past the guards located by the stairs, I began to wonder deeper into the dungeons and right into the depths until I reached a set of very familiar steps leading into the darkness.

I noticed that the gates did not seem to be locked, which I found very strange. I suppose Uther did not think anyone would try to go down there and was not worried about the dragon escaping as it was chained up. I decided not to think about it too much and just be thankful I did not have to work out how to open the gates before pushing the them open.

At this moment I remembered my fear of the dark and grabbed torch that sat next to the gates out of its handle, which was a bit difficult as I was not very tall making it a bit difficult to hold too as well. I then began the decent. After what I felt was too long, I came to the end of the stairs and onto what I call 'Merlin's platform'.

"Hello?" I called out feeling a bit awkward as it seemed I was calling out to no one. "Hellooooo?" I almost called out for a third time before the flapping of large wings made me close my mouth.

I watched as the dragon flew down from above towards the large rock in front of me. I couldn't believe that he was in front of me; he seemed so much larger gliding down to the rock in front of me than he did on screen. I could not help but stare at him with my mouth hanging open.

"Ah, hello young one." Kilgharrah literally boomed causing me to snap my mouth shut.

"You know who I am?" I questioned hopefully. "Good 'cause I have a few questions," I said while actually putting my hands on my hips, which probably looked quite comical as I was physically 8 years old.

"Of course you do,” he chuckled. "You want to know why you are here."

"Well obviously!" I said angrily. "I shouldn't be here! I should be dead!"

"You were reborn into this world for a very important reason." Kilgharrah continued.

"Really and what's that?" I implored.

"To fulfil your destiny." He answered.

"My destiny!" I exclaimed. Well this is a typical fanfic component.

"Yes young one", Kilgharrah said obviously ignoring most of my muttering and exclamations. "You will one day face two paths. One that will lead you to the light and one to the dark."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "Do I have magic then?"

"All will be revealed young one," Kilgharrah responded before beginning to flying away. "One day."

"Wait I've got one more question!" I cried trying to stop him from leaving.

"Goodbye young one," he said. "We will meet again soon."

"Please wait! Who was that woman when I arrived?! Is she someone important? Who was she?!" I cried desperately knowing it was pointless as he had already left my sight but tried anyway.

I did not know whether that meeting gave me more questions or even answered any of my original but after that I felt like I had a more important role in this new world than I did before and that I'll likely play a big part in the future.

Life basically continued on as normal. Well as normal as a fantasy world that used to be fictional with one of the people, i.e me, being mentally older than their own body. So normal-ish I would say. Though I was a little blind on what would happen in between now and when Merlin arrives, which made me a little nervous.

However, one incident that caused the normal-ish flow to be broken was when Gorlois died. When I was 9, making Morgana 10 years old, Uther sent Gorlois into some battle, (don't ask what battle or what for cause since I was 'only 9' they don't tell me anything), but had died (again I don't know anymore). Morgana was initially inconsolable when she learnt of his death and the only person she would talk to was me. It was strange comforting Morgana, who now believed that she was an orphan, knowing that Uther was her father. With this knowledge I could not help but observe Uther often, particularly in the company of Morgana, to see what he was feeling. He never gave much away, always staying impassive.

The peace was later again broken the next year when I began to have nightmares (visions of the future). Now I was originally in denial about what kind of nightmares it was as I did not want to believe that, like Morgana, I was having dreams of the future, but when some of them began to happen, I began to realise that my worst nightmares had become a reality. Literally.

At first they were not too specific, things like me dreaming that there would be a storm and that Morgana, Arthur and I would not be able to go riding like we wanted to and it was not too strange but then they did get quite specific. For example, dreaming that Helen's horse when she was riding it, would get spooked by a storm that was coming in and making her fall off hurting her leg and then not be able to ride again for a while then it actually happening, left me a bit spooked.

I "learned" that Morgana was also having dreams as well around the same time when she confided in me about what she had dreamt. Some of our dreams were sometimes the same, sometimes one would have a dream and the other wouldn't. As I was in Camelot for majority of the time due to my lessons, we would often sneak into each other's beds, we shared a room, and comfort each other then fall asleep in the others bed.

I was the first one to decide that we should go to Gaius as I knew that this would help calm Morgana down but also he would provide us with sleeping draughts, which I knew would initially work and that was what I needed for the time being. Gaius was very caring and understanding about our situation and though I knew he was not really telling us the truth, I could tell by his face that he was scared about what would happen as he knew what this symbolised.

The frightening part of my dreams of the future became a real reality when I was 13. I had a horrible dream one night of Helen and George leaving Camelot on a ride to spend sometime together and getting attacked and killed. I woke up screaming so loud that my new maid, Emma, woke up and had to comfort me and tell me it was all a dream so I would go back to sleep, though I feared it wasn't.

This dream occurred while Helen, George and I were not Camelot Castle but in our "home" in the countryside. This meant that I did not have Morgana or Gaius to offer comfort or understanding. I still only lived in the castle temporarily now and again while Morgana, since Gorlois's death, had begun to live in the castle permanently as Uther's ward.

When Helen and George a couple days later announced they were going for a ride with just the two of them, I panicked, fearing this was the day, and begged them not to go. But since I'm only "a little girl", they ignored me and told me that everything would be alright though they assured me that they would be careful.

I was right to be fearful as when it was nearing night and they had not returned, a couple of our male servants left to search for them and came across their bodies. They had clearly been attacked. Even though I never truly saw them as my parents, they were a good second and had cared and looked after me for 13 years and I was still devastated when I learned what had happened. Almost immediately we, me and the servants, packed all of my things including items of Helen's and George's that I wanted to keep and left for Camelot Castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like this chapter. Please let me know your thoughts and feel free to leave any ideas of what you want to happen


	5. Family

While growing up over the years, my friendship with Arthur also grew and we became like siblings, similar to my relationship with Morgana. He was the typical younger brother and I – like a typical older sibling – often liked to remind him that I was a month older than him, which annoyed him much to my delight. He was also the first one to truly make me smile and laugh after Helen's and George's deaths.

When I arrived in Camelot, I was very subdued due to obvious reasons; losing someone that you have been close with for 13 years hits you hard. Everyone was being careful around me and I could regularly feel their pitying gazes on me as to them I was only 13 years old, still a very young girl, and not the 34 year old (adding my last life's 21 years and the 13 years of this one) I knew I was. Though I have to admit I had never lost a parental figure before and in a way I still blamed myself for not being able to stop them from going out riding.

Nearly a year later, one in which I turned '14', 35 technically, after a long day of Morgana trying to entice me into a horse ride, which I think was in bad taste, and everyone else practically walking on egg shells around me, I retired to my room.

Since becoming a more permanent resident of the Castle, Morgana and I got our own rooms. Uther had been trying to encourage me to have a maid close to my age to assist me after my previous maid Emma, who was old and had passed away. However, I kept on refusing as not only did I want to look capable but I also wanted to be on my own for a while though I hoped that he would finally give up and let Gwen assist me as she did now and again for big events.

It was this night that Arthur decided I had been sad for long enough and that the best way was to prank me. Thanks Arthur.

After a while of being in bed, I had decided to get up to ask for a glass of water, as I felt thirsty, and lifted up my sheets to see a spider sitting next to my leg.

Typically I am quite calm with spiders, but one crawling along in my bed while I'm in it? No thank you! So in my defence I screamed and began to chase Arthur, who immediately lost his hiding place in my wardrobe when he burst out laughing.

"Arthur!" I yelled as I ran after him. "I'm going to kill you!"

Many servants were still going around doing their tasks, so it must of looked strange to see the future king of Camelot being chased by one of Uther's wards, who was threatening to kill him.

It was only when I caught up to him, which was easier than it would have been in my last life as I was much fitter than I was, did both of us look at each other and realise how ridiculous we looked and burst out laughing.

I suppose I should thank him for making me smile and laugh though I still did not appreciate that fact that he put a spider in my bed!

//

However, there were moments with Arthur that I do not always look back on fondly. Case and point being an event that happened a few years later when Arthur lead an attack on a Druid camp. I soon realised that this could be the attack that lead to the Druid possessing Elyan in season 4.

While there was mention of this happening in the show, I did not know when it was going to happen, only that it happened before Merlin arrives. Though I got the impression it was when Arthur was relatively young as it was his first time leading knights etc. on a mission.

I had sneaked off to go riding as I wanted to be on my own and Uther often sent guards to go with me, which made sense I suppose as my 'parents' were murdered when they went off riding by themselves and one of them was a knight but what can I say I was being rebellious.

I had ridden off quite far when I suddenly heard screaming in the distance and clashing of swords. I knew Arthur was leading his first mission and was worried the he was in some sort of trouble so I quickly climbed off my horse and rushed towards the noise, a bit stupid I know, with my dagger in hand.

Though when I arrived I wished I hadn't. It appeared to be a camp in disarray with everything strewn everywhere. People were running and screaming from men with the Camelot symbol on their clothing. Bodies were also strewn everywhere as well.

As I turned looking at the terror around me, I noticed Arthur standing not too far off from me with a horrified look on his face, my own face likely mirroring his own, as he looked from what was happening towards.

"I-I don't…I tri-", Arthur stuttered. "I tried to! B-but they w-would not listen!" He looked close to tears.

"You have to tell them Arthur! They are hurting children!" I urged.

"I-I don't know h-how!" Arthur tearfully told me.

I couldn't stay here anymore so I looked from Arthur, shaking me head, and fled back to my horse.

//

I hurried back to Camelot, jumping off my horse not even waiting to see if a servant had come forward to grab the reigns before dashing up the steps into my room. I darted under my covers and laid there thinking over what I had just witnessed.

It was not long later when I heard knocking at my door. I stayed quiet hoping that whoever was at my door would go away.

"Amelia! You cannot stay in there forever!" Morgana called through the door.

I wiped away the tears that I had not realised had fallen, until I touched my face, from my cheeks. "I can try!" I responded.

"That's it!" And before I could ask her what she meant, Morgana had burst through the door.

"Morgana!" I chided. She ignored me and clambered onto my bed in a way that was not accepted as 'lady like' and promptly pulled me towards her into a hug.

"What happened?" She asked. "Gwen saw you fleeing into the castle after your ride, which can I say how dare you not bring me with you!"

Despite my self, I could not help but let a out a small laugh at Morgana's comment. "It's Arthur," I sighed.

"What did that twat do!" Morgana said angrily and before I could answer her, Arthur burst into my room. From his appearance I could see he had only just got back and had not bothered to change.

"Amelia! I am so sorry!" He rushed out. "I did not know it was going to happen that way! I tried to tell them to leave the women and children but they would not listen!"

"It's alright Arthur," I said quietly.

"Yeah but- what what?" Arthur said shocked as Morgana glanced at both of us from her position between us.

"Yes, I know it is not your fault. You tried and I realise that," I reassured him. "Oh." He stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"Come here you idiot," Morgana said exasperated pulling Arthur towards the bed despite his protests that he was not an idiot and into a hug with us.

I sighed. This was my family now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this was enjoyable. Hoping to start with the first episode of Merlin after this chapter. I did these chapters as I wanted to show Amelia adapting to this new world and getting to know all the characters before what we see in the show and wanted to find room to develop my oc.


	6. Dragon's call 1x01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First episode!

Amelia's POV

I slowly opened my eyes and glanced to my left where I saw daylight creeping through the curtains that my maidservant, Anne, had closed the previous night. As I opened the curtains I could see that the sun was still rising over the trees and I wondered why I had woken up so early in the day.

My thoughts were broken by the sound of the door to my chambers. As I glanced over my shoulders, I could see that it was Anne.

"You're early today Anne," I said in a confused tone.

"It is the execution today my lady. You informed me that you wanted to get ready early," Anne responded.

The execution of course…

I sighed and moved towards the basin of water Anne had brought in with her to wash my face. I then moved towards the screen in the corners of my chambers so that Anne could assist me with changing into my clothes for the day. Even though I had been in this world for over 20 years now, I was still not completely used to someone assisting me with every little thing.

As I then sat down at my dresser so that Anne could do my hair, she noticed my sullen face.

"What is the matter my lady?" She asked.

"It's just the execution, Anne," I answered. "I feel like Uther is doing the wrong thing by executing this man. I do not believe that he is evil."

"I'm sure the King knows what he is doing my lady," Anne said attempting to reassure me.

From what I could remember of the TV show from my previous life, I knew magic was not evil, it was how the person used it but I understood why Anne was saying this. She has been brought up with the belief that magic has been evil all her life. I knew Uther tried to convince me as well but because I already was mentally an adult with me own opinions, I could not be so easily influenced. I already knew my own mind.

When Anne finished helping me get ready, I left my chambers and began walking towards Morgana's. As I walked along the corridors, servants stepped aside to let me through and even though I should be used to this type of treatment, I can tell you I still found it very weird.

When I reached Morgana's chambers, I simply stepped right inside (Morgana and I had long since given up knocking on each other's doors) and saw Morgana looking forlornly out of her window. I walked up to the woman I had grown to love as a sister.

Morgana glanced towards me and tried to give me a smile though she was not successful. I immediately hurried to give her a hug. She clung to me as I glanced over her shoulder towards the window; my own chambers did not face towards the main courtyard like Morgana's did.

Through the window, I could see the crowds gathered around the the stand where the execution block stood. I had been excited but also dreading this day. This was the day that Merlin would come to Camelot but it was also the day that an innocent man would meet his death.

The dreaded drums began to beet as the man was led by guards towards his fate. Morgana lifted her head from my shoulder to look out of the window again.

I then heard Uther begin his speech: "Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man, Thomas James Collins, is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic. And, pursuant to the laws of Camelot, I, Uther Pendragon, have decreed that such practices are banned on penalty of death. I pride myself as a fair and just king, but for the crime of sorcery, there is but one sentence I can pass."

Hypocrite, I thought.

Uther raised his arm, then lowered it as a signal to the executioner. Morgana and I had turned our heads away not wanting to see the man lose his head. The sudden thump and the gasps could be heard so we knew it had been done.

"When I came to this land, this kingdom was mired in chaos, but with the people's help magic was driven from the realm. So I declare a festival to celebrate twenty years since the Great Dragon was captured and Camelot freed from the evil of sorcery. Let the celebrations begin."

But as soon as Uther finished his speech, a wailing wafted up from among the crowd. The crowd broke away to reveal Mary Collins, the now deceased Tom Collin's mother.

"There is only one evil in this land, and it is not magic! It is you!" She cried. "With your hatred and your ignorance! You took my son! And I promise you, before these celebrations are over, you will share my tears. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son."

Clearly uncomfortable with this, Uther immediately ordered the guards to seize her. But before the guards could reach her, Mary had already began chanting and disappeared in a whirl of wind and smoke.

"I wonder what will happen now," Morgana wondered. I could only nod knowing what will happen but also knowing that everything will be resolved and be okay for the time being.

I stayed with Morgana for the rest of the day comforting her. She got very upset after every execution and would often rant angrily about Uther. It was at these time that I could not help but think about evil Morgana in the later seasons.

//

Later, Morgana and I were looking out the window from the Griffin Landing. We stood in silence both caught up in our own thoughts before they were broken by the sound of footsteps though neither of us turned around.

"Amelia. Morgana." Uther said as he walked towards us.

"Yes?" Morgana said still looking out of the window while I just glanced over my shoulder to him not showing any emotions on my face. I had unnervingly gotten good at it.

"What is this? Why are you both not joining us at the feast?"

"We just don't think chopping someone's head off is cause for a celebration." I told him in a cold blunt tone as he stood next to us.

"That poor mother." Morgana murmurs.

"It was simple justice for what he'd done." Said Uther in a tone that sounded annoyed clearly expressing how many times he's had to say this type of thing.

"To whom? He practiced some magic, he didn't hurt anyone." I said, glaring at him.

"You were not around twenty years ago, you have no idea what it was like." Uther said in an increasingly angry and patronising voice.

"How long are you going to keep punishing people for what happened then?" Morgana said in her own increasingly angry voice.

"Until they realise there is no room for magic in my kingdom! You will be with me when I greet Lady Helen." Uther responded. I tried to not show him how affected I was by his shouting, trying to be strong like Morgana is.

"We told you! We want no part in these celebrations!" I called after him as he began to walk away.

Uther turned back towards us as we glared at him. "I'm your guardian!" He growled. "I expect you to do as I ask. If you show me no respect at least respect our finest singer." Before he turned around and once again began walking away from us.

"You know, the more brutal you are, the more enemies you will create!" I yelled after him. Uther did not turn around as he turned the corner. Seeing how agitated I looked, Morgana grabbed my hand, something we had begun since we were children to comfort one another.

"There's no point trying to convince him otherwise," Morgana uttered quietly.

"I know."

//

I woke up the next morning feeling very excited for what will happen. Things are going to become much more interesting now that Merlin has arrived. I hoped to introduce myself somehow, I'd have to wait for my opportunity.

After repeating the same usual routine, I decided to perhaps walk to the lower town to maybe talk to some people and look at the stalls. As I stepped outside of the castle with Anne following behind me, I heard a commotion near where the drawbridge was,

"What is going on?" Anne murmured.

"Let's look," I said running towards the commotion. In my previous life I did not do much exercise, which cause me to get stitches in from just walking for 10 minutes… down a hill. However, since coming into this world, I've had to do a lot more exercising (riding, sword fighting) so I actually was quite successful in running over to the noise without getting a stitch despite the dress I was wearing.

Nearing the crowds, I could now see that Arthur had twisted Merlin's arm behind his back. I cringed. I had forgotten about this bit…

"I'll have you thrown in jail for that." Arthur barked.

"What, who do you think you are? The King?" Oh Merlin…

"No. I'm his son, Arthur." The way that Merlin shoulders slumped, you could tell that he had realised how much trouble he was in.

Arthur then takes Merlin out at the knees before turning around and ordering some guards to take him to the cells.

"Amelia," Arthur cried cheerfully when he noticed me. "Did you see that! Not very bright is he?!"

"No Arthur" I murmured angrily before turning away from him, Anne following me, not trying to see if he had actually heard me.

There are times like this where I have to remind myself that Arthur will not always be this bad, that he will grow as a person with Merlin's help.

//

After meeting Lady Helena the previous night, I went with Gaius to release Merlin from his cell. I had earlier approached Gaius hoping to help him with Merlin, he seemed a bit surprised by my insistence. He asked me why and I simply replied with "Anyone that stands up to Arthur deserves help".

I followed Gaius as he moved towards where Merlin's cell was and as we reached the cell, we could see Merlin leaning his head towards the floor as if he was trying to hear something. Perhaps he was hearing the dragon? My memories of the show were not perfect since it had been so long since I had watched the show.

Merlin immediately jumped up when he heard the cell door open and spun around towards us.

"Merlin!" Gaius cried walking up to him as soon as the door opened while I stayed outside of the cell waiting for my opportunity.

Gaius sighs, "You never cease to amaze me! The one thing that someone like you should do is keep your head down, and what do you do? You behave like an idiot."

Merlin sheepishly looked to the floor murmuring "I'm sorry."

"You're lucky. Gaius and I managed to pull a few strings to get you released." I said announcing me presence. This caused Merlin's head to snap towards me in an almost comical fashion.

"This is Lady Amelia, one of the King's wards" Gaius introduced.

"My lady," Merlin said almost bowing, I scrunched up my nose. I still did not like it when people did that. Gaius noticed and gave me an amused look. When he realised what I had said, Merlin suddenly sprung up. "Did you say that I'm free to go? Oh, thank you! Thank you!" He cried.

Gaius gives him a disapproving look for being so excited.

"I won't forget this." Merlin exclaimed. Gaius and I looked at each other grimacing as we knew what was about to happen.

"Well, there is a small price to pay." Gaius said. This caused Merlin's happy expression to drop.

//

Before long Merlin was in the stocks in the lower town being pelted with rotten fruit and vegetables by children. Gaius and I could not help but laugh at his disgruntled expression. I decided to walk over to him and have a little fun when I saw the children leave to get more rotten fruit and vegetables.

"Having fun?" I asked in an amused tone.

"No My Lady," He grumbled.

"Please call me Amelia," I said. "I hope we can be friends."

"Of course My L- Amelia," He said with an embarrassed smile on his face, trying not to open his mouth as the children were still throwing food at him. I simply laughed in response. I then noticed Gwen approaching us.

"Hello Gwen," I said with a smile.

"Hello Amelia," she responded softly before turning to Merlin. "I'm Guinevere, but most people call me Gwen. I'm the Lady Morgana's maid."

"Right. I'm Merlin." He awkwardly reached his hand further out of the stocks to shake hers in an equally awkward handshake. Sweet. "Although, most people just call me Idiot."

"No, no, no. I saw what you did. It was so brave." Gwen hurriedly said.

"I agree," I said warmly.

Merlin gave an adorably awkward smile before saying, "It was stupid."

"Well, I'm glad you walked away. You weren't going to beat him." Oh Gwen.

"Oh, I- I can beat him." Merlin snorts.

"You think? Because you don't look like one of these big, muscle-y kind of fellows." Oh dear, maybe I should intervene but it was so adorable and awkward to watch.

"Thanks." Merlin said in an offended tone.

"No! No, I'm sure you're stronger than you look. It's just, erm... Arthur's one of these real rough, tough, save the world kind of men, and... well..." Gwen stumbled before trailing off.

"What?"

"You don't look like that." At this point I could not help but laugh out loud at this.

"Very smooth Gwen," I said chuckling.

Merlin then motions for us to come closer and then whispered, "I'm in disguise."

Gwen then lets out a laugh, me joining her. "Well, I can say for both of us when I say it's great you stood up to him." I said.

"What? You think so?" Merlin said hopefully.

"Arthur's a bully, and everyone thought you were a real hero." Gwen said admiringly.

"Oh, yeah?"

Gwen nods, "Mm-hmm." We all then spotted the children returning with more rotten fruit.

"Oh, excuse me, Guinevere, Amelia. My fans are waiting."

Gwen and I share a smile before scurrying off together, we could both hear the laughter of the children as they started to pelt him.

//

Later as I walked through the lower town looking at the stalls, I noticed a commotion in front of me and as I walked closer I noticed Arthur and Merlin in the middle of the crowd. Oh dear.

I noticed that I appeared to have arrived at the tail end of the fight as I pushed my way through the crowd and stood next to Gaius to see what was going to happen.

Arthur backed up, catching his foot in a bucket and falling over backwards. Merlin, thrilled by his victory, looked up at the crowd and spotted Gaius giving him a disapproving stare and paused. Arthur noticed this and attacked him from behind with a broom, knocking him to the ground. Guards quickly stepped forward and began picking Merlin up.

"Wait." Arthur called to them. "Let him go. He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one." Before stepping up to merlin. "There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it."

I did not follow as Merlin scurried off with Gaius following. Partly because I knew that at this moment I was not supposed to 'know' about Merlin's magic yet and couldn't really have an excuse for being there. Though it was also because Arthur once again noticed me and pulled me by my arm towards the castle while informing me of how I shouldn't get involved, which has been a running theme since Arthur decided that Morgana and I should stay away from the 'men' stuff.

//

Third person POV

"Oi!" Gaius cried as he walked into Merlin's room as the boy was just waking up. "Have you seen the state of this room?!"

"It just happens." Merlin mumbles.

"By magic?" Gaius sarcastically asks.

"Yeah."

Exasperated, Gaius simply reply's, "Yes. Well, you can clear it up without magic. And then I want you to get me some herbs: henbane, wormwood, and sorrel. And deliver these to Morgana and Amelia. Poor girls are suffering from nightmares."

"Mmm, I know the feeling." Merlin murmurs to himself as Gaius left his room.

//

Amelia POV

I had once again snuck past the guards and was scurrying down the steps to where the Dragon was kept. I often visited him during my time in Camelot with the aim to not only learn more from him, not that he told me much, but also to keep him company until Merlin arrived as he would get plenty of company then.

"Kilgharrah?" I called out. After a moment of silence I continued, "Don't try and scare me again, I do not appreciate it!"

"Of course young one," he boomed as he flew down to his rock. "I learnt my lesson when you threatened with burning me alive."

I shook my head in exasperation, which seemed to be what I always do when I talk to him.

"Have you talked to Merlin yet?" I asked deciding to change the topic.

"I have spoken to the young warlock," Kilgharrah answered in a humoured tone. "He seemed as irritated as you used to be."

"Well I am no longer as irritated as I have learnt not to expect a straight answer from you." I rebutted. "You tell him about his destiny?"

"I did. I assume you are wondering whether you will know about his magic?"

"Well obviously!" I answered exasperated, a common mood around him.

"Time will tell young one." He answered cryptically. "You will find the right moment."

"Hmmm… as clear as always Kilgharrah," I spoke sarcastically. "What about how our destinies will link?"

"Again you will see as your path unfolds."

I sigh, "I will have to go now. People expect me."

"Of course, until the next time young one."

//

I was walking towards Morgana's door after speaking with the dragon when I heard her ask, "Be a darling and pass me that dress, will you Amelia?" This confused me as I knew she could not be talking to me as I was not even in the room.

When I peered round the door I could see Merlin panicking before fetching the dress while Morgana could be seen behind the screen undressing. Ah now I know what is happening. Yet when realising what scene this was I did not want to interrupt as it looked as hilarious as I remembered with seeing Merlin panic and Morgana being completely unawares.

"I mean, the man's a total jouster." Morgana uttered as Merlin places the gown on the screen. "And just because I'm one of the King's wards, does not mean either you or I have to accompany him to the feast, does it." After no response, Morgana repeated in a questioning tone, "Well, does it?"

"Mm-Mmm." Merlin said in a funny high pitched voice while shaking his head. I sniggered behind my hand as I stood by the door, receiving an odd look from servants passing by.

"If he wants me to go, then he should invite me, and he hasn't." Morgana says in a exasperated tone as Merlin jerked about in a panicked fashion trying to figure a way out of his situation again making me laugh quietly.

"So do you know what that means?" Morgana asks.

Merlin again utters in a high pitched voice, "Mm-Mmm." While shaking his head.

"Where are you Amelia?" Morgana asks looking over the screen causing Merlin to hurriedly hold up one of her cloaks to hide his face.

"Here." Merlin said in a high pitched voice while peeking through the neck of the cloak. I do not sound like that.

"It means you and I will go together and show everyone that we do not need any man to accompany us." That made me smile. 

I did not know how Morgana did not realise that it was not me she was talking to but that may be due to the probability Merlin did not knock, which is a usual indicator that I had entered her room.

Merlin puts the cloak down and starts to leave, however not before Morgana said, "I need some help with this fastening."

This sent Merlin into high panic mode as he looked around at a loss for what to do. I knew I should put him out of his misery so I entered the room behind him.

"Amelia?"

"I'm here." I answered trying to control my laughter as Merlin spun around to face me then sighed with relief once her realised who was behind him.

I gave him a small smile. "What are you doing here?" I mouthed.

Merlin motions that Morgana needs help dressing, smiling adorably.

I laughed silently while gesturing to him that he should leave. After he scurried away, I walked behind the screen to help Morgana. I had agreed to come round earlier to help her decide on what to wear for the feast while Gwen completed other chores.

I followed Morgana out from behind the screen as she began holding up the different dresses she had come out carrying.

"So, it's whether I wear this little tease..." She smirked as she spun around towards me changing what dress she was holding up to a maroon gown. "…or give them a night they'll really remember."

I laughed. "The second one."

"You should put on something similar!" Morgana declared. "Then we will really make an entrance.

//

When the evening came about, Morgana and I walked towards the banquet hall with our arms linked. Morgana wore her maroon dress that had no sleeves being held up by being tied around her neck with a circlet around her head. While I wore an off the shoulder dress with long sleeves with a similar circlet around my own head. Though while Morgana had all of her hair tied up, I only had the front parts of my hair tied.

"Ready?" Morgana asked knowing how I was not a big fan of being the centre of attention.

"Of course," I said reassuringly. Court members would have already entered the hall, which was important for Morgana and I's entrance.

I clung to her arm as we entered and everyone turned to look at us. I took in a deep breath and strode down the aisle between the tables without looking at anyone.

Once we got to the end, I turned around and noticed some people had turned away to continue to talk to one another while some continued to stare.

"Morgana, Amelia you both look well," Arthur said approaching us.

While everyone only knew Arthur and Morgana as cousins and that meant there still was this expectation of them possibly marrying, which I found a bit strange. Nonetheless it did not seem to be an issue here. However, I found it especially weird with Morgana and Arthur, probably because I knew they were actually brother and sister. Yet if they did not marry, it was expected that Arthur and I might marry, but I saw him as my brother and am very much against it.

Other court members also approached Morgana and I to talk with us; I let Morgana lead these conversations. While I had become more confident while living here in Camelot, I was still the person that only talked more with people I was comfortable with and knew.

I noticed Merlin by one of these tables as Gwen appeared to be walking away from him and decided to talk to him.

"Excuse me," I said to the noble in front of me before walking over to Merlin. "Hello." I said when I reached him.

Merlin jumped spinning around to face me and began gaping at me like he was a fish.

"Merlin?" I asked laughing awkwardly. He quickly stopped.

"H-hello Amelia, you look n-nice," he stammered. He smiled bashfully.

"Oh…thank you," I said sheepishly, looking down at my outfit. "Is this your first feast?" You can see that I was desperately trying to make small talk.

"Y-yes!" He said enthusiastically. "It is amazing!"

"Well, you will get bored with them after a while," I spoke. "Though you are lucky that Lady Helena is performing at your very first feast." While I knew that wasn't actually going to happen, the dragon, soon after I met him, said I had to keep up pretence.

"The reason for this feast is quite sad though," I said daringly wondering what his reaction would be. I knew he was at the execution where Uther mentioned that the feast tonight would be celebrating the capture of the Great Dragon and 'freedom' from sorcery.

"W-what makes you say that?" He said nervously glancing around him at the people standing around us.

"Well," I said lowering me voice. "We are celebrating the persecution of people who did nothing wrong but be themselves. I think that is wrong."

"Y-you really mean that?" He asked almost hopefully.

"I do," I said with a slight smile on my face prior to turning away from him and walking back to where Morgana was standing.

//

It was a little later when everyone moved to our places at the table as the celebratory horns signalled Uther's entrance; I noticed Merlin standing in a corner near the head table. Arthur sat on Uther's right while Morgana sat at his left with me on her left.

Standing in front of his seat, Uther began his speech, "We have enjoyed twenty years of peace and prosperity. It has brought the kingdom and myself many pleasures, but few can compare with the honour of introducing Lady Helen of Mora." We all applauded and as the music began, we all took our seats.

I took a deep breath, this was it.

Helena began to sing. Everyone began nodding off to sleep. I quickly covered my ears, when I noticed Merlin doing the same. He glanced over at me and the two of us made eye contact. Cobwebs began forming over the enchanted sleepers. Merlin was looking at Helena, who was staring at Arthur as she walked forward.

As she pulls a dagger from her sleeve, I looked back over to Merlin with a panicked look on my face. "What do we do?!" I hurriedly mouthed to him. Instead of answering me, Merlin looked down as if debating with himself, probably because he knew his next actions would reveal his magic to me. He then looked up directly at the chandelier and as his eyes flashed gold, the chandelier dropped on her as she raised her arm to throw the dagger.

The break in her concentration on maintaining the spell through her song caused everyone to wake up and pull the cobwebs off themselves while muttering. I hurriedly did the same. Everyone either lent forwards in their seats or stood up to look at what was now Mary Collins lying on the floor.

Mary raised herself up enough to throw the dagger at Arthur. But before the dagger sliced into Arthur's chair, Merlin reached Arthur and pulled him out of harm's way. They then tumbled to the floor. Mary then collapsed on the floor dead after witnessing that her last attempt at revenge failed.

Tearing our eyes from the dead woman, we all turned towards Merlin. He looked somewhat nervous so I gave him a small smile in a attempt to comfort him.

"You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid." Uther then spoke gratefully, breaking the silence.

"Oh, well..." Merlin said bashfully.

"Don't be so modest." Uther insisted. "You shall be rewarded."

"No, honestly, you don't have to, Your Highness." Merlin pointlessly refuted.

"No, absolutely. This merits something quite special."

"Well..." Merlin said with a small smile on his face. You won't be looking that happy in a minute Merlin…

"You shall be rewarded a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's manservant." I don't think Uther understands what a reward actually means.

We all began to applaud after Uther finished his statement.

"Father!" Arthur objected indignantly.

I couldn't help but laugh quietly as Arthur and Merlin looked away from each other unhappily.

//

After Anne had helped me get dressed for bed, I sneaked out and started heading towards Gaius's chambers. I felt like I had to talk to Merlin and basically reassure him that I was not going to tell anyone about him and also to tell him that I did not think him a monster or evil.

Once I got to the door, I knocked gently before poking my head around the door. I noticed Gaius standing at one of the tables sorting out his bottles and pots of god knows what.

When he looked at me, I smiled sheepishly. "I was looking for Merlin?" I asked.

"He is in his room," he said gently while pointing towards the door at the end of the room we were in. I stepped into the room fully and looked at him questioningly, wondering if he knew that I had seen Merlin use magic. Seeing my look, Gaius spoke, "Yes he told me."

I nodded and walked to Merlin's door and knocked. I heard ruffling before the door opened.

"Gaius what do you- Amelia?" Merlin spoke in surprise. He looked over my head at Gaius before ushering me into his room. I smiled slightly at all the mess.

"I meant what I said before," I decided to start with. "I think it is wrong to persecute people with magic just because they have it and I do not know whose good idea it was for you to Camelot of all places."

Merlin laughed slightly. "It was my mother's. She believed I needed a mentor." He spoke before becoming nervous. "So you do not think I am a monster or anything?"

"No Merlin!" I immediately said. "Of course not!" Merlin smiled thankfully. "I was wondering though, how long have you had magic?"

"My whole life" Merlin answered. "Gaius gave me me this magic book to learn spells." He then grabbed a book that was lying on the floor. Not very well hidden Merlin.

For the next hour Merlin showed me the different pages of spells and which ones he will try to learn first but once I began yawning too often, we realised that we should continue another time.

"Thank you Merlin," I said with a smile while moving towards the door.

"N-no thank you!" He insisted.

"It's nothing."

"No it is not nothing!" Merlin again insisted.

I smiled and before I opened the door, I turned towards him, "I'm not going to tell anyone by the way." I then turned away and opened the door and travelled the journey to my own room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I wrote that last scene alright. I was trying not to make it a copy of a someone else's work.
> 
> Since in my story Ygraine and Vivienne are sisters, Arthur and Morgana are cousins, which I think brings an interesting complexity.


	7. Valiant 1x02

Amelia's POV

Sometimes this life was a struggle. It's nothing to do with the lack of modern day necessities that I had grown used to from living in the 21st century. Well not exactly. My key struggle was the fact that I am left handed. This is a struggle in this world as there are no ballpoint pens but I have to write by using a pot of ink. This is a problem as when I write from left to right, my hand goes over what I have previously written leaving inky hands as well as smudged writing. Adding to the fact that I quite like being able to lean my hand on what I am writing upon, which is now not possible. I hear you ask why I did not learn with my right hand second time round. New body, maybe new writing hand. But no. This body was left handed as was my last one.

This torment was going through my head one morning as I glanced upon my book of parchment that I used as a diary, remembering how as soon as I knew how to write with ink and given something to write on, I began to write down everything I remembered about the episodes and the characters as I could remember to make sure I had something to refer to further down the line.

I could see that now the first episode was out the way, it was now for the second episode of series 1, Valiant. Or was is Valient?...no it was definitely Valiant. Anyway, I did not know how long after the last episode did the next occur.

//

It was not too long later did I realise that the day of the tournament arrived where all of the knights of the realm would come to fight to supposedly prove their bravery and skills but I think there are probably those, like Valiant, who had come because of one thing: greed.

The day before, Merlin came rushing to me asking for help on the different parts of the armour as he had no idea what did what and he had to dress Arthur for the tournament tomorrow, which meant he was in a state of panic. I honestly don't know why Uther hired Merlin as a manservant for his son without checking whether he is actually trained to do the job. But I took him to the expert, who was Gwen as I thought she would provide the most help as the armour I have previously worn has been quite different to Arthur's. This led me to witnessing one of the most adorable scenes in the show:

Merlin stood in the middle of Gwen's house dressed in armour looking quite funny with Gwen explaining the names of each part of armour and where they went.

"So, you've got voiders on the arms." Gwen said as she tapped said voiders.

Merlin murmured, "Mmhhmmm,” while nodding.

"The hauberk goes over your chest."

"The chest. The arms. The chest." Merlin muttered tapping the parts of the armour on the different parts of his body. He looked over to me as if asking if he was doing okay. I nodded and smiled in approval.

Gwen then held out the helmet to Merlin, "I guess you know what to do with the helmet." She said amused.

"Erm, yeah. Yeah, that was the only bit I'd figured out." Merlin answered letting out a small laugh. Gwen giggled in response. Aww. I remember preferring these two as friends in the show but I could not deny how adorably awkward both of them were in the first season.

Merlin put the helmet on before turning to Gwen and I, "How come Gwen is so much better than me?"

"I'm the blacksmith's daughter. I know pretty much everything there is to know about armour, which is actually kind of sad." Gwen murmured sadly.

"No, it's brilliant!" Merlin exclaimed.

"He's right you know," I agreed. "I keep telling you this Gwen"

She looked down shyly with a small smile on her face.

//

Morgana and I sat in the stands in the tournament grounds with Anne and Gwen next to us. Morgana turned to me and grinned excitedly as all the knights filed into the arena.

Uther struts past the front line of knights before beginning his speech: "Knights of the realm, it's a great honour to welcome you to a tournament at Camelot. Over the next three days, you will come to put your bravery to the test, your skills as warriors, and of course, to challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur. Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces."

A box is opened revealing the gold. The crowd gasped.

Uther continued: "It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. The tournament begins!" We all cheered and clapped. Uther then moved to his seat.

The knights exited the arena. Guards take Arthur’s and the other knight's capes, and they each put on helmets. The crowd cheers and Guinevere and Anne whoop. Arthur and the knight begin the first fight.

Arthur won, which was no surprise, and the crowd cheered. Valiant starts his own fights and wins his own bout. I frowned as I watched as I recall my notes telling me he was bad news. Meanwhile, other knights compete. The different shields moved up and down the board as as more and more fights are completed.

//

In the evening Uther, Morgana and I, with Anne and Gwen next to us, lined up in the throne room to meet the different knights in the competition. It become quite boring having to smile and compliment all of them repeatedly after a while. These men's egos were big enough already. I frowned when I noticed it was Valiant's turn to approach.

"Knight Valiant of the Western Isles, My Lord." He said while bowing.

"I saw you fighting today. You have a very aggressive style." Uther complimented.

"Well, as My Lord said, "To lose is to be disgraced."" Well aren't you sucking up to him.

"I couldn't agree more." Ugh. "Knight Valiant, may I present the Ladies Morgana and Amelia, my wards." Here we go, got to put a smile on my face.

Valiant bowed to kiss Morgana's hand then turned to me and did the same to me murmuring "My Lady" to both of us. I smiled politely at him.

"I saw you competing today." It was her turn this time. At these events Morgana and I usually tuck turns in taking the lead when talking so that the other could take a rest from reinforcing these men's egos.

"I saw you watching." He flirted. Of course you did. "I understand the tournament champion has the honour of escorting My Lady to the feast." Morgana often did this instead of me due to the fact that she was the oldest between the two of us.

"That's correct." Morgana responded with a wide smile on her face. I swear if she smiled anymore, her face would fall off.

"Then I will give everything to win the tournament."

She smiles and nods to him, he nods back.

"My Lady." He says to her before turning to me and doing the same.

"Knight Valiant," I say as I nod back to him.

Valiant walks over to shake hands with other knights as Arthur approaches and bows to his father.

"Arthur."

"Father."

Arthur looks over at Valiant with a small glare before walking to Morgana and I.

"They all seem rather impressed by Knight Valiant." Morgana said teasingly to Arthur with a smirk on her face.

"They're not the only ones." Arthur responded snidely.

"You're not jealous, are you?" Please no.

"I don't see there's anything to be jealous of." You shouldn't be, your siblings!

Morgana's smile faded at Arthurs comment.

"You do not agree with her do you?" He asked me.

"Course not," I said as I looked over at Valiant wrinkling my nose.

"Good." He says with a small smile as he briefly squeezed my arm in gratitude. Arthur then walks on towards the other knights.

"Could Arthur be any more annoying?" Morgana murmured to me in a low voice. "I so hope Knight Valiant wins the tournament. I do not understand why you do not like him."

I turned to her and spoke in a equally low voice. "Because I do not like how full of himself he is."

"Is not Arthur the same?" She said in a confused tone.

"Arthur is a good man in despite of it while Valiant is not." I argued.

"You do not know him!" Morgana argued back.

"Neither do you." I said.

Morgana went quite then before turning to the next knight who approached us. Neither of us mentioned how it was supposed to be my turn this time.

"I hope she does not mean what she says" Gwen said quietly to Anne.

"She probably did before Lady Amelia told her off." Anne murmured before sniggering to herself. Gwen elbowed her in the side while smiling.

I smiled as I listened and watched the interaction out of the corner of my eye.

//

The next morning I was back sitting in the stands at the tournament grounds. It was Arthur's turn to fight his next opponent before long and once again he won. It was later on when it was Valiant's turn to fight in the arena. He knocked down his opponent, Sir Ewan, whose helm rolled off. Valiant then preceded to pin him down with his shield. Oh no.

Valiant hits him before standing up throwing his sword to the ground before taking off his helmet. The crowd cheered when they realised he had won the fight; Morgana nudged me in the side to tell me to clap as I had just sat there in a state of shock. Sir Ewan laid motionless on the ground. Gaius appeared and hurried into the arena with his medical bag checking him before guards approached to carry Sir Ewan away.

//

Deciding I should do something, I quickly scurried away to Gaius' chambers when the crowd dispersed for the day.

"It's most odd." I heard Gaius say as I poked my head round the door. "Look at this. See these two small wounds. Looks like a snake bite." Both of them were leaning over Sir Ewan.

"How could he've been bitten by a snake?" Merlin asked as I quietly watched not knowing when I insert myself into the conversation. "He was injured in the sword fight."

"But the symptoms are consistent with poisoning: slow pulse, fever, paralysis." The two of them still had their backs to me.

"Is he alright?" I asked in a slightly louder voice than usual finally deciding I should probably say something instead of standing there awkwardly. They both jumped in surprise before turning to me.

"My lady you should knock. My heart cannot take anymore surprises." Gaius said good naturedly as Merlin put his hand on his own heart.

"Sorry." I said sheepishly. "But is he alright though? Can you heal him?"

"I was just telling Merlin that his injures do not match the fact that he was in a sword fight, but you probably already heard that." Merlin snickered at that clearly having recovered from the fright I had caused. I gave him a small glare that I didn't really mean. "If it is a snake bite, I'll have to extract venom from the snake that bit him to make an antidote," Gaius continued turning back to Sir Ewan.

"What happens if he doesn't get the antidote?" Merlin asked worriedly. I walked over to both of them, standing next to Merlin.

"Then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do for him. He's going to die." Gaius said in a sad but resigned tone.

"He was fighting Knight Valiant." Merlin muttered.

While I heard him, Gaius clearly hadn't as he asked, "What's that?"

"Nothing." Merlin said before glancing over to me. I didn't know what to do now, I was too afraid of what would happen if I changed too much. Would I make the situation worse? Though according to my notes, Valiant kills the witness of him using the shield, which meant that Sir Ewan could die. I hoped I could try to prevent that.

//

I followed Merlin as he watched Valiant walking through the Red Ribbon Chamber.

"Come on," Merlin murmured to me before following Valiant to spy on him in his guest quarters. We both peaked through the gap in the door as Valiant pulled a mouse out of a cage.

"Dinner time. Come on." Valiant said to apparently nobody. Merlin glanced at me with a confused look on his face as I looked back at him with a worried one thinking of what will probably happen next. I didn't want to say anything yet as I hoped Merlin would figure it out but there was no harm in helping him along I thought.

Snakes suddenly emerged from the shield taking the mouse from Valiant. Merlin scurries away dragging me with him. This made a small noise causing Valiant to glance up just as we darted from sight. We hid in an alcove of the Criss-cross Corridor and Valiant stepped out and gave up the chase when he seemed to not see anything.

//

Both of us scurry into Gaius's chambers. Gaius had moved from beside Sir Ewan to one of the tables in the room.

Before Gaius could say anything, Merlin spoke quickly, "we've just seen one of the snakes in Valiant's shield come alive. He's using magic."

"Are you sure?" Gaius asked in disbelief.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "He was dangling a mouse in front of the shield. And when the snakes came out one swallowed it straight down!" While I had seen the episode many times, seeing it person made even weirder.

"Sir Ewan was fighting Valiant when he collapsed. It must've been one of the snakes from the shield. I have to tell Arthur." Merlin added.

"Is there any chance you might be mistaken?" Gaius questioned.

"Excuse me! Am I not a reliable witness!" I exclaimed angrily.

"I know magic when I see it." Merlin stated assuredly.

"Perhaps, but have you any proof?"

"Don't you believe me?" Merlin said. He looked hurt so I reached out my hand to rub his shoulder. He looked at me gratefully.

"I fear you'll land yourself in trouble. How will you explain why you were in Valiant's chambers?" Gaius argued. This made me relax, he only wanted to protect Merlin.

"What does that matter? He's using magic to cheat in the tournament!" Merlin exclaimed. Oh Merlin, you've got a lot to learn.

"But you can't go accusing a knight of using magic without proof. The King would never accept the word of servant over the word of a knight." Gaius was unfortunately being realistic.

"What? So what I say doesn't count for anything?" Merlin uttered in disbelief.

"I'm afraid it counts for very little as far as the King is concerned. That's the way it is." Gaius stated.

"What about Amelia?" Merlin asked with hope. "Surely the king will listen to her!"

"I'm just a little girl to him Merlin," I said sadly. "Hardly ever listens to me."

Merlin groaned in annoyance.

//

The next day everyone was back in the tournament grounds for the next round of fighting. Arthur's next opponent stood in the middle of the arena. I couldn't help but gape at the man's size. He is like a giant!

Morgana absently stroked my arm as we sat in the stands.

"He'll be fine," I whispered to her. "Him being smaller will work in his favour." Practicing to fight with a sword had taught me a few things.

"I'm not worried." Morgana murmured.

"Course you're not." I whispered sarcastically. Morgana gave me a look for my tone.

Arthur fought the giant knight and won. I of course cheered for him along with Morgana, Gwen and Anne. Afterwords Valiant stepped up and won his next match.

"Looks like Arthur and Valiant are going to fight each other in the final. This'll be interesting." Morgana murmured conspiringly. I didn't answer her as I glanced at Merlin, who was on the other side of the arena, sharing a worried look with him.

//

In the evening I retired to my chambers as I did not need to stay for the dinner Uther was having with the knights in the council chambers.

I was just lounging on my bed before I got a knock on my door. I got up and was surprised when I saw Merlin on the other side.

"I'm getting an antidote for Sir Ewan so he can tell the king Valiant is using magic. Can you come with me?" Merlin asked.

"Course." I said stepping out of my chambers.

After Merlin had poked his head into the council chambers to make sure Valiant had not retired to his rooms, the two of us hurried towards the guest chambers. When we noticed that the door was locked, Merlin glanced at me nervously and I gave him an encouraging smile; he seemed to still be nervous about doing magic in front of me. He then cast a spell and the door unlocked.

We entered the room and I took a sword from a rack as we approached the shield. Merlin turned to the door when we heard someone approaching. Suddenly a snake slithered out of the shield and poised to strike at Merlin's back.

"Merlin!" I exclaimed as loud as I dared. Merlin spun around just as I lifted the sword and cut off the snakes head. The other snakes then began to come out but I dropped the sword and Merlin grabbed the chopped off snakes head before the two of us ran out of the room.

//

We rushed to Gaius' chambers and handed him the head. Without questioning us, Gaius began to drain some venom from the snake head.

"I'll get started preparing the antidote." Gaius told us.

"I'm going to tell Arthur." Merlin said in a determined voice.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked.

"No I'll be fine."

"You'll need this." Gaius said handing Merlin the snake head. Merlin began to walk out of the room but not before Gaius called out to him: "And Merlin, what you did was very brave."

"Well actually I was the one who cut of the snakes head but who cares!" I said sarcastically. Both of them gave me an amused look slightly chuckling. Merlin then left the chambers to go to Arthur.

//

While getting some water for Gaius the next morning, I noticed Valiant being escorted through the Square to the Council Chambers. I hurriedly darted back to Gaius' chambers and told him what I had seen. Gaius then set me to mixing potions while he sat next to Sir Ewan giving him god knows what.

"Welcome back." Gaius said. I looked over and saw that Sir Ewan's eyes had opened.

"There was a snake on his shield. It came alive." Sir Ewan said in a panicked tone trying to sit up.

"You're weak. The snake's venom is still in your system." Gaius told him.

"I must warn Arthur." Gaius' instructions clearly hadn't stopped him.

"Arthur already knows. He's requested an audience with the King." Gaius assured him. "Now, they'll want to talk to you. Rest. You'll need your strength." Gaius then got up and walked to the door. "I need to fetch more herbs. I'll be right back. Lady Amelia could you watch him?"

"Of course." I said. Maybe I could stop him from being killed. The problem was over the years you forget the details and while I knew another snake came to finish Ewan off and Arthur and Merlin lose their witness, but I couldn't quite remember how or in what order things happened. I hoped watching him would help.

I got up to fill up a cup of water for Ewan for when he next woke up from the bucket I used to bring the water. By the time I looked back, a snake had gotten into Ewan's bed. I rushed forward, dropping the cup of water which spilt over the floor, but it was too late. The snake had struck. God Amelia! You had one job!

Gaius then entered.

"I'm afraid we'll have to give you a potion that'll taste like toad water, but it'll get you back on your feet." Gaius then looked up and noticed me standing in the middle of the room with a devastated look on my face.

"Amelia?"

"He's dead Gaius," I spoke quietly. "I'm so sorry! I should have been keeping a closer watch on him."

Gaius leaned over and checked for Ewan's pulse. When he found none, he realised I was right. He sighed.

"We have to got to the council chambers to tell them." He said.

"The king isn't going to listen now is he." I stated rather than asked. Gaius didn't say anything as the two of us left his chambers.

//

Gaius and I slipped into the council chambers. I could see that Uther was leaning over the shield inspecting it while Arthur had his sword drawn in case a snake slipped out. Morgana and Gwen were also there on the other side of the council chambers.

"Merlin." Gaius whispered. Arthur leaned over to Merlin murmuring something to him. Merlin nodded then walked towards us.

"Where is he?" Merlin asked.

"Oh Merlin I'm so sorry!" I cried looking at my feet. Merlin looked at me confused before turning to Gaius asking for an explanation.

As this was happening Valiant continued to play the innocent card, saying that his shield was perfectly normal while Arthur battled against him.

"I'm afraid Sir Ewan is dead." Gaius whispered in explanation.

"What?!" Merlin exclaimed in a low voice. "What do we do now?"

"I have a witness. Knight Ewan was bitten by one of the snakes from the shield. Its venom made him grievously ill, however, he has received an antidote. He will confirm that Knight Valiant is using magic." Arthur said to the court.

"Where is this witness?" Uther asked in tone showing that he clearly didn't believe Arthur. Great parenting Uther. Inspire your child with confidence.

"He should be here..." Arthur muttered in a unsure voice turning to Gaius, Merlin and myself. "Where's Ewan?" He asked quietly.

"He's dead." Merlin responded.

"I'm waiting!" Uther loudly declared.

"I'm afraid the witness is dead." Arthur told his father.

"So you have no proof to support these allegations. Have you seen Valiant using magic?"

"No. But my servant fought one of the snakes from..." Arthur began to say before being cut off.

"Your servant? You made these outrageous accusations against a knight on the word of your servant?" Uther exclaimed at what he saw as something absolutely absurd.

"I believe he's telling the truth!" Arthur argued.

"My Lord, am I really to be judged on some hearsay from a boy?" Valiant so helpfully piped up.

"I've seen those snakes come alive!" Merlin declared.

"How dare you interrupt?! Guards!" Uther shouted angrily. Guards stepped forward and began to take Merlin away.

"My Lord." Valiant said before Merlin could be taken from the room.

"Wait!" Uther ordered.

"I'm sure he was merely mistaken. I wouldn't want him punished on my account." Again with the sucking up Valiant.

"You see? This is how a true knight behaves - with gallantry and honour." Uther said to Arthur. I couldn't help but glare at both Valaint and Uther as the scene played out.

"My Lord, if your son made these accusations because he's afraid to fight me, then I will graciously accept his withdrawal." I really want to hit him now.

"Is this true?" Uther asked turning to Arthur. "Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?" Why would he Uther? He's Arthur!

"No!" Arthur shouted in protest.

"Then what am I to make of these allegations?" Uther asked.

"Obviously there has been a misunderstanding." Arthur said stepping down. "I withdraw the allegation against Knight Valiant. Please accept my apology."

"Accepted." Valiant said with a smug look on his stupid face.

//

Arthur stormed off to his chambers with Merlin soon trailing after him. I quickly followed them hoping to diffuse the situation knowing that Arthur was going to let out all his hurt and anger on Merlin.

When I entered I saw Arthur with his back to me clearly moping with Merlin standing behind him. Only Merlin glanced at me.

"I believed you, I trusted you, and you made me look a complete fool." Arthur said in a low voice.

"I know it didn't go exactly to plan." Merlin said democratically.

""Didn't go to plan"?!" Arthur exclaimed turning to Merlin.

"Arthur-" I tried to say hoping to stop any yelling but he cuts me off.

"My father and the entire royal court think I'm a coward! YOU HUMILIATED ME!" He yelled.

"We can still expose Valiant." Merlin insisted.

"I no longer require your services." Arthur stated.

"Arthur you cannot do that!" I exclaimed stepping up to him and putting my hand on his shoulder but he shrugged me off.

"You're sacking me?" Merlin asked in shock.

"I need a servant I can trust."

"You can trust me!" Merlin again insisted.

"And look where it got me this time. Get out of my sight!" He shouted. Merlin turned and walked out of the room. Arthur stood there for a while before realising that I still stood next to him.

"What do you want Amelia?" He asked sounding like he hadn't quite calmed down from yelling at Merlin.

"You should not have taken your hurt and embarrassment out on Merlin," I said. "He's a good person who's only to trying to help and protect you." I turned and walked out of the room not looking back to see his response.

I clearly failed at diffusing the situation.

//

I tried looking for Merlin but couldn't find him anywhere until I decided to again walk towards Gaius' chambers and I saw Merlin heading towards me wheeling a dog statue in a wheelbarrow.

"Merlin?" I asked in confusion.

"Can't stop." He said as he continued past me and entered Gaius' chambers with me following.

"What are you doing with that?" Gaius asked.

"I'm going to let everyone see the snakes for themselves." Merlin explained. Oh now I remember. This is how Merlin was able to make the snakes appear in front of everyone, he practiced on the statue.

Merlin put the statue in his chamber and pulled the magic book out from under a floor board and began flicking through it.

"Do you want me to help?" I asked as I watched him.

"No I'm alright. This will probably take me a while." He said. So I left him to it.

//

Not long after I returned to my chambers, Morgana came rushing in telling me about a nightmare she had of Arthur fighting Valiant. I continued to comfort her, telling her everything will be alright, till she fell asleep again.

After waking up the next morning, Morgana decided she needed to see Arthur before the fight so I told I'd see her at the tournament grounds. She left to get dressed and Anne entered to help me get dressed for the tournament.

Not long later Morgana and I met up and walked with Gwen and Anne to the tournament grounds together and took our places in the stands. Arthur then entered the arena and walked up the Valiant, who was already standing there. Both put on their helmets then after a few moments, they charged at each other.

After a while, Arthur knocked Valiant's helmet off. Arthur removed his helmet and they both pull down their mail coifs. Valiant knocked Arthur to the ground and stepped on his shield. He disarmed Arthur, but Arthur caught him before he could strike. Valiant pinned Arthur against a wall, but Arthur shoved him off. Suddenly the snakes come out of the shield. Everyone stood up, many gasping in surprise. I glanced over to the other side of the arena and saw Merlin half hidden behind a wall. I smiled to myself.

"What are you doing? I didn't summon you!" Valiant cried.

"He is using magic." Uther said in shock. We've been trying to tell you.

"And now they see you for what you really are." Arthur announced to the audience.

Valiant simply chuckled and sent the snakes to the ground before yelling, "Kill him!"

Arthur backed up toward the stands in an attempt to get away from the snakes that were sliding towards him. Morgana, seeing that he was trapped, grabbed the sword from the knight sitting next to her before throwing it towards Arthur and shouting, "Arthur!"

Arthur caught it, swung at Valiant, who jumped back, and then killed the snakes with another swing. Arthur disarmed Valiant and ran him through. After a moment Valiant dropped and we all cheered. Arthur looked at everyone cheering then walked out of the arena, slapping Merlin's shoulder on his way.

//

Later in the day the court congregated in the Banquet Hall waiting for Arthur to make his entrance.

Arthur then entered and Uther announced, "My honourable guests, I give you Prince Arthur, your champion." The court applauded. I walked from my spot next to Morgana so that Arthur could walk up to her. He offered her his arm and they exchanged a few words, Morgana curtsying at one point, before Arthur escorted Morgana down the aisle in the middle of the tables.

I walked up to Merlin and Gaius as Merlin turned to Gaius and said, "See, I told you he gets all the girls and the glory."

"And he owes it all to you." Gaius assured him.

"He's right," I said, both of them turned towards me. "We could not have done it without you." Merlin looked down blushing. Gaius and I chuckled at the sight.

Morgana and Arthur by this point had reached the bottom of the aisle still talking but before long they were squabbling. They really act like siblings sometimes.

Morgana soon stormed off towards where I stood, having walked away from Merlin and Gaius, Anne and Gwen soon joining us.

"Unbelievable! He will not admit he was saved by a girl!" Morgana ranted. "He can be so arrogant sometimes."

"He finds embarrassing to admit it." I told her. "Though I do not know why men do this. Being saved by a girl does not make them weak."

"He's probably complaining to Merlin about you." Anne said. We all turned and saw Merlin and Arthur talking.

"I hope he's giving Merlin his job back." Gwen murmured.

"He better." I said.


	8. The Mark of Nimueh 1x03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I should incorporate more third person POV into this cause there is stuff I want to do that Amelia is not always going to be there for.

Third person POV

One morning Anne left her home carrying a bunch of flowers in her hands and walked to Gwen and her father's house as she and Gwen often met up with one another when walking to the castle.

As she approached, Gwen's father exited and gave her a nod and smile before walking off to the black smiths to begin work. Gwen then appeared at the door holding a similar bunch of flowers and greeted Anne. They both preceded to head of to the castle.

They were about to cross the draw bridge when both Anne and Gwen noticed Merlin and Gaius wheeling a cart over the castle drawbridge. Anne and Gwen approached them.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked.

"Er... just moving something." Merlin awkwardly said.

"Looks heavy." Anne said trying to lean around Merlin to try and see what was on the cart. Gaius just stood on the other side of the cart waiting for them to finish talking.

"Earm, it's nothing really. Erm... did someone get the two of you flowers?" Merlin said diverting the conversation, which caused Anne to frown.

"Oh! No." Gwen giggled. Anne gave her a slight smirk forgetting her suspicions momentarily.

"We picked them ourselves." Anne said. "Would you like one?"

"A purple one." Gwen decided handing Merlin one of the flowers but then began to ramble, "Purple suits you. Not that I'm saying red doesn't suit you." She flushed red.

"Thanks. Well, er..." Merlin put the flower in his scarf. Gwen smiled.

"Er... see you." Merlin said turning away from the two girls and began to push the cart again.

"Bye." Gwen said wistfully. Anne narrowed her eyes at Gaius and Merlin's retreating figures. Something is going on, She thought.

//

Amelia's POV

I was sitting in Morgana's chambers talking when Gwen and Anne entered with two bunches of flowers in each of their hands. I was not surprised to see Anne as it made sense that Anne would also walk into Morgana's rooms as both Morgana and I were often found together in either one of our chambers.

Morgana stood up from where we were sitting to walk over to them smiling and said, "You two look happy."

"We picked these for the two of you." Gwen said holding out the flowers in her hands.

"Oh, that's so sweet." Morgana said taking the flowers from Gwen's hands while I stood and took my bunch from Anne's hands. "Thank you Anne." I said. She smiled at my gratitude.

"Something to cheer you up." Gwen said.

"We know the two of you are not sleeping well." Anne said.

"You two cheer us up." Morgana said.

"We do not know what we would do without you." I complimented.

"Would you like us to put them in water for you?" Gwen asked. Morgana nodded smiling.

As they do this I turn to them and asked, "How has your morning been?"

"Nothing interesting, though Merlin was being very secretive when we met him and Gaius at the draw bridge earlier." Anne answered.

"Oh?" I asked. Is this the beginning of another episode? Wasn't it something to do with Nimueh?

"They were pushing this cart with a blanket covering what was on it. I'm sure it is nothing." Gwen answered this time. Mmm…

//

I decided to go to Gaius' after talking to Morgana, Gwen and Anne for a while to find out what was going on. I knocked on the door and Merlin came to answer it letting me in. I walked in and saw that Gaius was leaning over a body that lay on a table in the middle of the room looking it with a magnifying glass.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"We found this body on the street." Merlin answered. "Are you alright? You look exhausted."

This caused to Gaius to look up as I answered, "Oh it's these dreams I have. They have been happening since I was child."

"I've never seen anything like this before." Gaius interrupted.

Merlin walked back to the table with me following behind him. "Do you think it could be some kind of plague?" He asked.

I bent over the body looking at it. "Don't poke the body!" Gaius said.

"But- I wasn't-" I spluttered. Gaius gave me a look. Okay maybe I was. I always seem to have the urge to prod things a lot of the time. It was probably a good thing that Gaius stopped me from poking a dead body.

"Mmm…" He said, clearly not believing me before turning to Merlin. "No. I fear that something like this could never come from nature. But who has this kind of power?"

"You think it's caused by magic?" Merlin questioned.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled from the other side of the door. Merlin opened the door before Arthur could come in and see the body.

"Erm... I'm on my way. Sorry I'm late." Merlin said.

"Don't worry. I'm getting used to it." Arthur said exasperatedly. Arthur furrowed his brow when he saw the flower in Merlin's scarf.

Merlin looked down at it. "Oh, er... Gwen, she gave it to me."

"Tell Gaius my father wants to see him now." Arthur ordered.

"Okay." Merlin said closing the door once Arthur began walking back down the corridor. "Gaius..." Merlin began to say turning back towards me and Gaius.

"I heard." Gaius interrupted.

"Wait, why couldn't he just tell you himself?" Merlin asked walking back towards the table with the body.

"Because that's the way it is. You're a servant." I said.

"Wha... if he knew who I was, what I've done..." Merlin reasoned.

"You'd be a dead servant. Right, get this covered up." Gaius said. I sniggered at the comment.

"Hey, I'm not your servant." Merlin said clearly annoyed at the two of us.

"No, you're my dogsbody. Come on, hurry up." Gaius answered.

//

I followed Merlin and Gaius into the Council Chambers where some of the court had congregated. A dead body lay on the floor. Gaius bent down to observe the body.

"What's happened to him?" Uther asked.

"I don't know, Sire. It's the second case I've seen today." Gaius said while still kneeling next to the body. Merlin and I continued to stand behind him.

"Why didn't you report it to me?" Uther demanded rather than asked. He's a little busy mate.

Gaius stood up. "I was attempting to find the cause."

"What did you conclude?"

"I don't think it's time to hurry to conclusions. The scientific process is a long one." Gaius stalled.

"What are you concealing from me?" Uther insisted. Okay he's a little smart to detect that Gaius is hiding something from him.

"Sire, I have seen nothing like it. The victims are dying in 24 hours, and it's spreading fast." Gaius said.

"What is the cause?" Uther asked.

"I think you should say that the cause, the most likely cause, is sorcery." Gaius announced. Bit dramatic.

Uther immediately pulled Arthur aside having a quick quiet conversation with him. I knew Uther was asking him to do searches in Camelot to find the sorcerer. I couldn't help but think how stupid this was. Why would the sorcerer who caused this be in Camelot? It would be a bit stupid of them to do that.

//

I had retreated back to my chambers as Uther instructed that it was best that I was to stay in the castle due to the plague spreading. As I was reading a book, Arthur and a number of guards suddenly burst into my chambers.

"Arthur!" I exclaimed. The guards immediately began searching through my things. I couldn't help but be glad that my notes on the show was well hidden.

"Sorry Amelia," Arthur said. "I'm just doing my job."

"I doubt the sorcerer is going to be in here." I said in a exasperated tone.

"I know but I have to search every room in the castle no matter who inhabits it." Arthur said.

I simply slumped back into my chair as I watched them mess up my things before they eventually left with Arthur muttering a "sorry" to me as he closed the door behind him.

Just another day in Camelot, I thought as I got back up to sort out my things so Anne wouldn't have to.

//

Before I knew it Uther had imposed a curfew which meant no one out in the streets after the great bell. As well as the lower town being cordoned off. I felt like I couldn't continue to do nothing so I sauntered down to Gaius' Chambers to see what he had found so far.

When I arrived I noticed they were about to start looking at another body. How lovely, I thought.

"Ah Amelia," Gaius said when he noticed me. "Now what do you two think is different about this victim?"

"Er... she's a woman." Merlin guessed.

"Really I had no idea." I said sarcastically.

"Sometimes I do wonder whether you're a magical talents were given to the right person." Gaius muttered indirectly agreeing with me. "Anything else?"

"Erm... she's a courtier." Merlin guessed again.

"Ah." Gaius said in encouragement.

"How does that help us?" Merlin asked.

"She's a courtier," I said trying to help Merlin figure it out. "That means she likely would rarely go down to the lower town."

"So what does that mean?" Gaius prompted.

"Erm... that, that she hasn't spoken to any townspeople." Merlin further guessed. Gaius looked pained and I couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes, it suggests that the disease is not spread by contact." Gaius told him.

"Oh, and they probably ate different food." Merlin said.

"Good. Anything else?" Gaius prompted.

"Erm... I doubt they breathe the same air." Merlin said.

"So what would every person need to survive no matter their station?" I asked him.

"Water. Water? You think the disease is spread through water?" Merlin finally got it.

"Merlin, you're a prodigy." Gaius said sarcastically handing Merlin a bucket. Merlin then turned to walk to the Lower Town well. Love Gaius' sarcasm.

//

I was still in Gaius' Chambers when Gwen came rushing in with tears in her eyes.

"Gwen!" Gaius exclaimed in surprise.

"Gaius." Was all that Gwen said.

"Are you ill?" I asked concerned.

She shook her head and begged, "My father! Please, Gaius, he's all I have."

"Gwen, I have no cure." Gaius answered.

Gwen sobbed, "I am begging you!"

"I wish there was something, anything, but so far the remedy is beyond what I can achieve." Gaius uttered taking her hand. I noticed that Merlin had entered by this point. "I'm sorry, Gwen."

Gwen didn't answer and ran out of the room.

"I'll follow her" I said before running after her.

I caught up with Gwen as she left the castle. "Gwen!" I called. "Wait!"

"Oh Amelia!" She sobbed. "I do not know what to do!"

"Come here." I said pulling her into a hug. I didn't know what to say so I figured the best way to comfort her was to just hold her and be there for her. I wanted to come with her to her house but I knew the guards would stop me before I even entered so I walked with Gwen to where the lower town began telling her she should stay with her father and not work for now. I couldn't help but feel I was missing something important.

//

Third Person POV

Anne, after Amelia's asking, agreed to stay with Gwen to be with her as she watched over her father. After a while the two of them had fallen asleep, Gwen kneeling on the floor with her head resting on the bed and Anne in a chair in the corner.

Anne was suddenly startled awake when someone began to shake her. She opened her eyes and lifted her head to realise it was Gwen, who had a big smile on her face.

"Gwen?" She asked before glancing around Gwen and noticed that Tom's face was completely clear of any sickness. "Tom?!" She exclaimed rushing over to him. "What happened?" Glancing between him and Gwen.

"I do not know! But is it not amazing!" Gwen cried. She lent forward to hug her father.

Anne, worried about how this could have happened, reached over and touched her on the shoulder. "Maybe we should leave him to rest Gwen."

"Of course." She agreed. Gwen then moved to her own bed so that she could rest.

Anne waited till she was asleep before checking under Tom's pillow and noticed a glowing poultice. Anne wanted to check the magical signature of the poultice and quickly muttered something under breath before her eyes flashed gold. She then tucked it into the pocket (Amelia insisted pockets were necessary) of her dress. Someone had used magic to heal Tom she realised, though she was not sure who.

As she stepped away to sneak back into her own home now that Tom was better. What she did not notice as she slipped out of the house was the poultice slipping from her pocket and onto the floor.

//

Amelia's POV

I was walking along the corridors the next morning wondering if I could sneak into the lower town to see how Gwen's father was. Anne had been in a odd mood this morning and I wondered why though if Tom had died she probably would have told me. I then heard screaming. I turned the corner and saw Arthur walking towards me and guards behind him dragging Gwen down the Upper Corridor.

"No, please. You've got to listen to me! Please, I haven't done anything wrong! You have to listen to me, please! I am innocent, I swear! Let me go! I swear to you!" Gwen begged but no one was listening. Gwen turned her head and saw Merlin, who had approached behind her.

"Merlin! Merlin, please help me!" She begged him before turning to the guards. "Why won't you listen to me?!" Gaius took Merlin's arm and escorted him out of the corridor.

"Please listen to me!" Gwen begged seeming to not notice me watching in horror as she passed me.

I quickly walked towards Morgana's chambers as that was the direction Gwen had come from.

"Morgana?" I asked as I entered. Morgana was pacing around the room. "Why is Arthur arresting Gwen?"

"Arthur found a magical poultice in Gwen's house after seeing that her father has suddenly recovered, he has decided she is the sorcerer!" She explained.

I then remembered what my brain had been trying to tell for hours. Merlin had gone to cure Gwen's father. The idiot! I wished Merlin would have spoken to me about this! I could have done something. Not necessarily let Gwen's father die but made it so it would have been less obvious? Like cure more than one person?!

"We have to stand up for her." I declared. Morgana nodded following me as I left the room.

//

As we entered, Anne having joined us on the way to the council chambers, we heard Gwen cry, "Why will no one believe me?! He got better, he just recovered. I didn't do anything!"

"We believe you." Morgana declared, the three of us stopping next to Gwen, who had been thrown to the floor. "Perhaps this is a disease that is not always fatal. Have you thought of that? Perhaps he recovered naturally."

"And what of this poultice that was found?" Uther asked.

Gwen grabbed onto this, "What poultice? I don't know anything about a poultice!"

"It was found in your house. Undo this enchantment. Put an end to this contagion." Just because she 'healed' her father didn't mean that she actually got her father ill. Could easily be someone else Uther. I highly doubted that a sorceress that had caused a plague would be so obvious.

"I can't!" Gwen sobbed.

"I will show you no mercy." Uther declared.

"I am not a witch. I don't know how to stop the illness!" Gwen said trying to persuade him.

"If you will not undo your sorcery, you force my hand and I must find you guilty..."

"But I told you, I..." Gwen interrupted.

But Uther continued as he hadn't heard her. "It is therefore my duty to pronounce judgment. And under the circumstance I have no choice but to sentence you to death."

"No." Gwen cried but he did not listen.

"I can only hope that when you die, this evil plague dies with you." (A/N:This reminds me of the witch trials where they drowned women to see if they were witches. Horrible as they are as it is gambling with someone's life and hoping for the best.)

"No! No!" Gwen sobbed.

"Take her away." Uther ordered. Guards dragged Guinevere, who was begging and saying she was innocent, backwards out of the room. Courtiers leave and Morgana and I watch as Gwen gets dragged off. Anne followed after them.

Morgana then turned to Uther, "I know Gwen, she's my maidservant, not an enchantress."

"Have you ever seen an enchantress? Believe me, they bear no sign, no mark. There is no sense of evil in the eye."

"You see no sense of evil in her eyes because she is not!" I insisted.

Morgana persisted, "I've seen the way the girl works. Her fingers are worn, her nails are broken. If she was a sorceress, why would she do this? Why would she kneel on a cold stone floor morning after morning when she could make these things happen with a snap of her fingers? Like an idle king!"

"You have no right!" Uther said angrily.

"You have no right to cast a judgement on that girl!" I said backing Morgana.

"I have a responsibility to take care of this kingdom! I take no pleasure in this!" Stop acting as if you are the victim in this Uther.

"Killing all of them once you get a whiff of the possibility magic is not taking care!" I said, my voice rising. Uther looked at me with an angry look on his face.

Before he could say anything to me, Morgana continued, "You're sentencing the wrong person!"

"They are right, Father. You hear the word magic, you no longer listen." Arthur piped up.

"You saw it for yourself. She used enchantments." Uther argued.

"Yes, maybe. But to save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. One's the act of, of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart." Yes Arthur, I thought, defend your future wife.

"I have witnessed what witchcraft can do. I have suffered at its hand." That was some what your fault Uther. "I cannot take that chance. If there is the slightest doubt about this girl, she must die or the whole kingdom may perish."

"I understand that-" Arthur tried.

"One day you may become King. Then you will understand. Such decisions must be made. There are dark forces that threaten this kingdom." You're the dark force Uther.

"I know. Witchcraft is an evil, father. So is injustice." I gave him a small smile. "Yes, I am yet to be King, and I don't know what kind of king I will be, but I do have a sense of the kind of Camelot I would wish to live in. It would be where the punishment fits the crime."

"I fear you're right. She's played with fire, and sadly she must die by fire." That was not what he was saying Uther.

"I mean she did not literally play with fire" I said before I could stop myself. They all gave me incredulous looks.

Morgana grabbed my arm pulling me from the room and muttered, "Not helping!"

//

Third Person POV

After talking to Gaius about how stupid he was, Merlin hurried to the dungeons to see Gwen and he came across a crying Morgana and Amelia going up the Wrought Iron Stairway. Amelia gave him a watery smile stopping him before he passed, letting Morgana scurry ahead.

"Were you the one to cure her father Merlin?" Amelia asked quietly.

Merlin looked down guiltily before looking up, "Yes," He whispered.

"It's not your fault Merlin, but I wished you had spoken to me about what you were going to do." Amelia said.

"I did not know she would be blamed!" Merlin exclaimed a little louder than he should causing a guard to glance at them.

"Uther is not rational." Amelia quietly murmured. "I do not know why he thinks the sorcerer who caused this would stay in Camelot. And just because someone supposedly used magic he assumes that she obviously caused this." She rolled her eyes. "I have to go to Morgana, but we need to do something."

Merlin nodded thinking of his own plan that would not involve Amelia, who turned to hurry after Morgana.

"Gwen." Merlin whispered when he reached her cell door noticing Anne just sitting by the cell door not saying anything other than being there for Gwen. Gwen tried to get to the cell door, but her chains don't stretch that far. He could see she'd been crying.

"Thank you." She said.

"What for?" Merlin asked.

"For coming to see me."

"Of course he'll come to see you Gwen." Anne said. "You have lots of people who care for you."

Merlin nodded. "I'm sorry." He said.

"It's not your fault." Gwen said firmly.

"Well..." Merlin said with a guilty look on his face.

"It's alright. Don't worry about me. There's no point crying about it. I mean...I mean, I'm not saying that you were going to cry about me. Obviously I don't think that." Gwen rambled. Anne couldn't help but smile at seeing Gwen ramble like she always does.

"Oh, Gwen. I can't have this happen." Merlin said.

"Please, one thing. You, you don't have to, but..." She trailed off.

"What?" Merlin asked.

Remember me."

"Of course we will Gwen." Anne said with a small smile.

"You're not going to die. I'm not going to let this happen." Merlin declared before turning away, Anne quickly scurried after him.

After catching up to him at the top of the stairs, Anne turned to him.

"I was there with them." Anne whispered, Merlin looked at her in feigned surprise, which Anne noticed but she continued. "I think Tom did not say anything to protect me as I probably should not have been in there house in the first place."

"That's kind of him." Merlin said.

"I wish he would not though, I do not want to see him lose his own daughter." Anne said quietly. "He has a son, but he has not seen him for years." She glanced around. "The thing is, I found the poultice under his pillow and tried to hide it but I must have dropped it. I feel so stupid!"

"It's not your fault." Merlin insisted before quickly leaving, rushing up the Wrought Iron Stairway more determined than ever to hand himself over.

//

Amelia's POV

After seeing that Morgana had fallen asleep, I hurried to Gaius' Chambers to see what I could do to help Gwen. I felt guilty for not doing more to stop this. As I walked in I heard Merlin and Gaius arguing.

"What else could I do? It's my fault Gwen's going to die." Merlin persisted.

"Yes, but you don't prove her innocence by offering to jump into the flames. You do it by finding out what's causing the disease!" Gaius argued.

"You did what?!" I exclaimed. The two of them spun around and looked at me with varying looks on their faces.

"Merlin thought it was a brilliant idea to offer himself as the sorcerer who did this to save Gwen!" Gaius explained. "The only thing that will save her is to understand the disease."

"Well, whatever it is, one thing's for sure: Arthur isn't going to find it. He thinks he is so sharp! But even when I told him I was a wizard, he still couldn't see it." Merlin complained.

"Sometimes they're pretty hard to spot." Gaius said sarcastically.

"Well, maybe I should go around wearing a pointy hat." Merlin joked. I couldn't help but snigger at that. He gave me a smile glad that I found his remark funny while Gaius definitely did not.

"I don't think you'll find one big enough. Anyway, forget that. If we're going to save Gwen, we have to find out what's contaminating the water." Gaius said grabbing a bucket and walked out of the room with Merlin and I following after him.

//

Gaius, Merlin and I entered the underground entrance to the water supply.

"Never been down here." I whispered to Merlin. 'It's exciting."

Merlin looked around the cavern in disdain and fear. "I would not say that." He muttered.

"Are you scared?" I asked teasingly.

"No!" Merlin exclaimed a bit too defensively. To be honest I was a little nervous myself, never been much of a fan of the dark.

After walking for a while we reached the water basin, Gaius turned to us, "The water from here supplies the whole town. Take a sample." Merlin put a bottle in the water and collected some.

"Let's take it back and examine it." Gaius said. We all began to turn away when suddenly a creature reared up out of the water. We all spun around and it went back in the water. Ah I forgot about that. Going down here is no longer exciting.

"What the hell was that?" Merlin took Merlin's arm so that he would follow as we all left the cavern.

//

We reached Gaius' chambers and immediately began to pour through his many books. Gaius and Merlin looked at a book

"Here." Gaius said after a short while. "It was an Afanc."

"An...a what?" Merlin stumbled in confusion.

"A beast born of clay, and conjured up only by the most powerful sorcerer. Now we have to find a way to defeat it. But where?" Gaius asked before looking at shelves of many many books.

"Oh god." I said in despair.

"That could take days." Merlin said agreeing with me. "Gwen'll be dead by then."

"Have you got a better idea?" Gaius asked not expecting an answer.

Merlin just turned and hurried out of the room and I followed him.

"Merlin let me come with you!" I called.

"I don't know…" he said.

"Come on! I can tell you when you are being stupid."

"Fine." He conceded. "We'll go to see Gwen and then I'll introduce you to someone."

As we were crossing the square, we saw a pyre being built on our way to the dungeons. When we walked up to the door we could see Gwen lying on the cell floor.

"Gwen? I'm going to get you out. I will." Merlin said.

"We promise." I said and we both left not waiting for an answer.

//

When we reached the gate that closed off the stairs to the dragon's cave, I quickly grabbed Merlin's arm.

"There's nothing to be worried about." He said thinking that was why I stopped him.

"It's not that." I said. "It just that do you realise that is where the dragon lives?" I knew he already knew that but I continued to play the ignorant card to see what he would say to me.

"Uh…yeah…I've met him" He said seeming a bit unsure now. "Do you not want to…?"

"No it's alright. I've already met him." I answered. He looked at me in surprise.

"You have?" He asked.

"I have been talking to him since I was a child." I was happy I did not have to lie to him about this anymore.

"Oh." He said. "Well you'll be more familiar with the way than I am." I rolled my eyes before grabbing the torch from his hands and descending down the stairs. We reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the cave and onto the podium. "Hello?" Merlin called out.

"Hello." Kilgharrah flew down to his rock. "The great warlock returns, as I knew he would. And with the young one who has a destiny that has multiple paths with many turns." Merlin looked at me confused.

"Yeah I do not know what he means either." I said.

"I need to know how to defeat an Afanc." Merlin demanded. Could say it a bit more nicely Merlin.

"Yes, I suppose you do."

Merlin turned to me, "Now I know where you get your attitude from." I elbowed him in the side. "Be more polite Merlin." I said.

"Will you help me?" Merlin asked trying to follow my advice.

"Trust the elements that are at your command." Kilgharrah said as clearly as he always does.

"Elements? But what is it I have to do?" Merlin demanded forgetting my advice.

"You cannot do this alone. You are but one side of a coin. Arthur is the other." What am I? Chopped liver?

"I, I don't understand. Just tell me what it is I have to do." Merlin said but Kilgharrah flies off. "No! Please, help me!"

"I have." Kilgharrah laughs.

"Oh, yeah, right. Thanks." Merlin said sarcastically.

"Now who as an attitude?" I said teasingly, Merlin gave me a look. "He has actually told you what you need to do, you've just got to think. I know it is difficult for you." I gave him a cheeky smile.

//

We both hurried back to Gaius' chambers to comb through any books that talked about elements to come up with an idea. We were frantically searching through books when Gaius entered. "Merlin, Amelia, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Looking for a book." Merlin answered unhelpfully.

I saw Gaius' mouth open to ask another question. "A book on elements." I quickly said hoping to clear up the confusion as soon as possible. "Though they seem to be in most of these no matter what subject."

"Well, the study of base elements is at the very heart of the scientific process." Gaius said.

"But how would they help me kill the Afanc?" Merlin cut in.

"Well, the Afanc is a creature made from earth and water. That's two of the four base elements."

"What about the other two?" Merlin asked.

"Well, perhaps they will destroy it." Gaius said realising what Merlin was looking at. "You want fire. Wind and fire. How did you find this out?"

I glanced at Merlin. "Erm... I just knew, you know? One of my powers." He awkwardly answered. I didn't know why Merlin did not initially tell Gaius about the dragon. He already knows about his magic.

"What else do your powers tell you?" Did he actually believe that?

"That I am only one side of a coin. The brighter side, obviously." Merlin cheekily answered. I swatted him on the shoulder. "Honestly Merlin." I said chuckling.

"And who's the other side?" Gaius asked.

"I think that might be Arthur."

Morgana and Anne suddenly entered the room. "They're bringing forward the execution. We have to prove Gwen's innocence." Morgana informed us.

"We're trying." Gaius said.

"Please, just tell us what we can do to help." Anne begged.

"We need Arthur." Merlin said.

"Arthur?" Morgana asked.

"There's a monster, an Afanc, in the water supply. That's what's causing the plague." I said.

"Well, we must tell Uther." Morgana said.

"The Afanc's a creature forged by magic. Telling Uther wouldn't save Gwen. He'd just blame her for conjuring it." Gaius the voice of reason.

"He's so logical." I said sarcastically.

"So what are we to do?" Anne asked.

"We need to destroy it. Then the plague will stop and Uther may see sense." Merlin said.

"And that's why you need Arthur." Morgana realised.

"He's our best chance. But he won't want to disobey the King." Merlin said.

"Leave that to me." Morgana declared. She exited. Gaius gave Merlin the keys to the water supply tunnels and Anne and I followed him. We left to go to the square to wait for Morgana and Arthur.

//

Morgana and Arthur walk into the Square to where Merlin, Anne and I stood. Arthur drew his sword as he passed, all over us forming a group and when we reached the cavern, we opened the tunnel door and Arthur lit a torch before we descended.

Merlin turned to me as we followed behind the others, "I'm more nervous now knowing that something is crawling about down here."

"I know. Now that I remember it." I said not really thinking about what I was saying.

"What do you mean?" Merlin asked.

"Nothing." I said picking up my pace to walk with Morgana.

"You'd better be right about this, Merlin." Arthur said as we walked further in.

We then all heard a low growl. I gasped along with Morgana despite myself.

"You two should stay here." Arthur said.

"We are coming with you." Morgana stated.

"No."

"Scared we'll show you up?" I asked.

"Father will slam us all in chains if he knew I'd endangered the two of you." Arthur said.

"Well good thing he doesn't know about it then." Morgana said sassily.

"I'm telling you, Morgana, Amelia, turn back. You could get hurt." Arthur said.

"You could too... if you don't get out of our way." I said sliding past him with a sniggering Morgana following behind. I caught Merlin and Anne's amused faces. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"How are we going to find it?" Morgana asked.

"I just hope we do before it finds us." Merlin answered. Arthur suddenly spun around. "Stop."

"What?" Merlin asked.

"It's just a shadow." Arthur said. We kept moving and we reached the water source. "Spread out."

We all split up. As I walked away, I heard a growl and Arthur swiping his torch. I rushed over to him with everyone doing the same.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Morgana asked in rapid succession.

"Yeah." Arthur answered.

"Did you see it?" Merlin asked.

"Yes." Arthur said.

"What did it look like?" Anne asked this time.

"It... it's quick." Thank you Arthur that was really helpful.

The Afanc then came up in front of Morgana, who screamed. Arthur went for it, but it disappeared again.

"Where is it?" Arthur asked frantically.

"I think it's gone this way!" Merlin all walked to where Merlin thought the Afanc went. The Afanc came slowly around corner into full view. Arthur swung at it and lost his sword. It also swipes away Morgana's torch. Arthur circled it with a torch.

"Arthur, use the torch!" Merlin swung the then began to mutter, "Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan.” The spell blew flames into the Afanc, incinerating it.

I quickly grabbed Merlin to give him a hug. "Well done." I whispered in his ear.

"Thank you." He said. As we pulled away, I noticed Anne was staring at Merlin with a frown on her face and I realised that Anne was also standing near Merlin when he cast the spell. I hoped she hadn't heard.

//

We reached the dungeons after Uther had declared that Gwen was innocent to be there when she was released. A guard opened Gwen's cell and Gwen's father was the first to enter with Merlin, Morgana, Anne and I following suit.

"Dad!" Gwen cried. They hugged. "Oh, my little child!" Tom cried. Gwen reaches to grasp Morgana and I's hands.

"Thank you!" She said.

"Don't thank us. It was more Merlin." I said.

"Really?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"He's the real hero here." Morgana said with a big smile on her face.

"I don't know what to say." Gwen said.

Merlin shrugged embarrassed, "I didn't do anything."

"I'm- I'm grateful to you all. Come on, Gwen." Tom said, he and Gwen left leaving Morgana, Anne, Merlin and I still in the cell.

"Merlin." Morgana called to him causing him to turn around from watching Gwen and her father leave. "I wanted you to know, your secret's safe with me." Oh god. I don't think I can bear to listen to this bit, I thought thinking of how much second embarrassment I felt watching this.

"My secret?" Merlin asked.

"Merlin, don't pretend. I know what you did." Morgana said seriously. I didn't blame Merlin for misinterpreting her here.

"You do?" Merlin asked in surprise.

"I saw it with my own eyes." I looked over to see Anne watching the scene with a frown on her face. She clearly was not happy with what was going on here.

"You did?" Merlin asked.

"I understand why you don't anyone to know." Oh Morgana.

"Well, obviously." Merlin chuckled.

"But I won't tell anyone. You don't mind me talking to you about it?"

"Er...no. I, I, it's, er...you have no idea how hard it is to keep this hidden." Thank you Merlin, I thought I was being helpful support.

"Well, you can continue to deny it, but I think Gwen's a very lucky woman." Morgana said.

"Gwen?" Merlin asked in confusion.

Morgana put her finger to her lips, "It's our secret." Morgana smiles as she leaves, I shook my head laughing as I walked away with her.

Third person POV

Merlin sighed.

"I suppose that did not go how you thought?" Anne asked. Merlin jumped forgetting she was there.

"Uh- No." He said embarrassed. How could have he misinterpreted what she was saying?

"I think I know what secret you thought she was talking about." Anne said nervously.

"What?" Merlin asked with cautious surprise.

"Could I talk to you later somewhere private?" Anne asked.

"Um…o-okay" Merlin stumbled. Anne smiled slightly before slipping out of the cells leaving Merlin on his own.

//

When Anne entered Gaius' chambers, she could see that Merlin And Gaius had just finished eating their evening meal. "I hope I am not interrupting." She said when they noticed her.

"No my dear. You have come at the right time." Gaius said smiling kindly. "I understand you wanted to talk to Merlin about something. Is it alright if I stay?"

"Y-yes that's fine. You p-probably already know about e-everything." Anne stammered. After a awkward pause she realised she should probably say something. "Anyway, when we were defeating the afanc I heard and saw what you did."

"You know I have magic." Merlin said quietly feeling very nervous now.

"Yes. But do not worry I will not say anything!" She quickly said. "T-there's something I want to tell you." She looked over her shoulder as if someone was behind them watching before looking down at her hand and muttered a spell before opening both her eyes and hand so that Gaius and Merlin could see the flash of gold in her eyes as well as the flame that appeared in her hand.

"You have magic!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Merlin be quiet!" Gaius said concerned with how loudly Merlin had spoken.

"Sorry Gaius." Merlin muttered before turning to Anne who had been awkwardly standing there. "Can you tell me what spell you used?"

Anne smiled, "Forbærnen." Merlin smiled and tried it himself and got it on the second try. He laughed. "This is amazing!" He said. "How long have you been practicing magic?"

"Since I was a young child. Gaius saved me when I was a toddler from being burnt like my parents were during the great purge." She smiled thankfully to Gaius, who had just sat watching their exchange with a small smile on his face.

Merlin spun around in surprise. "You?! But you could have put yourself in danger!"

"I have helped a few people escape Uther's rage Merlin." Gaius said. "More than you know."

Merlin quickly turned back to Anne not putting anymore thought on what Gaius said. "This is brilliant. You can help me so much! Why have you not told Amelia?"

"Amelia knows?" Anne asked in surprise, she knew about Amelia and Morgana's dreams but did not think either of them knew anything.

"Yes! She learnt about my magic when she saw me save Arthur from Lady Helen- well the woman pretending to be her." Merlin said.

"Oh." Amelia said. "Maybe I should. She has not said a word about you so she seems like she can be trusted and I know that sounds stupid as I have known her for years but this is risky. If she told the King would never believe me over her." She smiled at the two men before turning around and walking to Amelia's chamber to wait for when Amelia returned from having her meal with the King, Arthur and Morgana.

//

After a while, Amelia entered her chambers. "Ah Anne there you are. I think I am just going to go to bed straight away and not stay up reading." She had begun to take off different pieces of jewellery as she was saying this not noticing how Anne shuffled and fidgeted.

After no response Amelia looked up and noticed the state Anne was in. "Anne? Is everything alright?"

"Amelia, I- there's something I need to tell you." Anne stammered.

"What is it? You can tell me anything." Amelia said in what she hoped was an encouraging voice.

"I-" Anne began before stopping as she did could not say it then decided the best way was to do what she did to show Merlin. "Forbærnen."

Amelia stared in amazement at the small flame in Anne's hand. "Oh…" was all that Amelia said. Anne closed her eyes worried about what would happen next. "That's beautiful," Amelia continued. Anne relaxed and opened her eyes and before she could stop her, Amelia touched the flame.

"Ow!" Amelia exclaimed. "That hurt." She pouted before putting her finger in her mouth.

Anne couldn't help but laugh at what she saw. Typical Amelia. "Just because it does not hurt me does not mean it will not hurt you." She said once she could stop laughing.

"Oh now you tell me." Amelia said in mock anger.

"You did not give me a chance!" Anne responded chuckling. "So you do not hate me?"

This caused Amelia to sober up. "Of course not! Wait does this mean you heard Merlin? Does he know about you too?"

"Yes. He's the one that encouraged me to tell you. Gaius knows as well but he probably always suspected, he saved me from the fate that met my parents."

"Oh I'm so sorry." Amelia frowned. "How long have you-?"

Anne interrupted before she could finish knowing what she was going to ask. "Since I was a child."

"Mmm… apparently Merlin has been able to use magic since before he could crawl."

"What?! He was born with it?" Anne asked in surprise. Merlin had not told her this.

"Oh my god! You should meet the dragon!" Amelia suddenly said. Anne felt she couldn’t keep up with every bit of new information Amelia said.

"The dragon- there's actually a dragon below the castle?!"

"Yes! I have met him. So has Merlin." Amelia answered. "And Gaius probably." She added.

"Really?"

"Yes. Now I am sure we can talk more but I think I should put my finger in some cool water."

"Yes of course. I'll arrange someone to bring that to you and then I'll help you get ready for bed." Anne said before stepping away.

"Oh Anne?" Amelia called before Anne could leave. "I will not tell anyone about you."

"I know that now." Anne said before stepping out the room feeling like a great weight had been lifted of her shoulders. She did not feel so alone now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I don't get is that while they prove that Gwen did not cause the plague, they did not prove whether she cured her father with magic or not. So did Uther assume that if she did not cause the plague she must not have magic and not be able to heal her father and Tom just somehow got better? I dunno, I didn't bother changing that and just went with it.
> 
> I hope you like that last part. I always worry how good the parts of these chapters that deviate from the episode are any good and fit with the rest of the episode. I hope I am fitting Amelia, as well as Anne, well in the story.


	9. The Poisoned Chalice 1x04

Amelia's POV

Today was a very tense day. Well it had been a tense few weeks as Camelot had been preparing for the arrival of Lord Bayard of Mercia. Camelot had been at war with them on and off and things had been very tense for many years and now Bayard was coming to sign a peace treaty.

In the throne room Morgana, Gwen, Anne and I were walking behind Arthur and Uther. We all walked very dramatically, with other courtiers, knights and servants, towards Bayard and his group, who had just entered and were walking towards us.

We all met in the middle and Uther spoke, "Camelot welcomes you, Lord Bayard of Mercia. The treaty we sign today marks an end to war and a beginning to a new friendship between our people." Uther and Bayard grasped arms.

I glanced over all of the new arrivals and I noticed a maid staring towards where Merlin stood. This caused something to niggle in my brain. She did not look familiar at all but I knew she must be significant. My notes said that when Bayard arrives, Nimueh poisons Merlin then tries to kill Arthur when he tries to save him but other than that I had not put anything else for this episode. I clearly put too much faith in my older self and I was thinking that nothing really needed to be changed and that I should let it go as it already did.

//

Third Person POV

Merlin passed Gaius and Anne in the Upper Corridor while carrying a heavy bag. "Why do I always get landed with the donkey work?" He huffed dropping the bag.

"You're a servant, Merlin. It's what you do." Gaius said amused at the sight.

"My arms will be a foot longer by the time I get this lot inside." Merlin complained.

"It's character building." Anne said.

"Yes." Gaius said. "As the old proverb says, hard work breeds... a harder soul." He was clearly making that up on the spot.

Merlin looked at him knowingly. "There is no way that's a proverb. You just made that up."

"No. I didn't." Gaius said. Anne noticed behind Merlin and Gaius a maid was walking determinedly towards them. The maid then fell in front of Merlin. Anne frowned thinking how faked that looked but the other two seemed to have not noticed the act.

"Sorry." She muttered demurely.

"It's alright." Merlin said feeling quite taken with her. She was very beautiful.

"Excuse me." She said bending to begin gathering her things again.

"Let me give you a hand with that." Merlin crouched down and caught the girl's eye. Anne analysed the scene sensing something was off. They stood up.

"Hi. I'm Merlin." He shook her hand. Anne couldn't help but slightly smile at the sight of Merlin being armoured by the girl. He looked quite sweet she thought.

"Cara." She greeted. "You're Arthur's servant. That must be such an honour." She continued trying to butter him up.

"Oh, yeah. It is. Well, you know, someone's got to keep the place running." Merlin boasted.

"Thank you, Merlin." She said trying to get him to realise that he was still holding some of her things.

"Hmm?" Merlin said still staring at her clearly very besotted. He then snapped out of it and looked down at the pillow he picked up for her. "Oh, right. Yeah. Er, no problem." He hurriedly said handing it over.

"It was nice meeting you." She said walking away. Merlin continued to watch her leave.

"Shouldn't you be busy running the place?" Gaius asked sarcastically making Merlin realise that Gaius and Anne were still with him. Gaius laughed. Anne joined him trying to cover up the unease she felt.

Merlin gave them a look before picking up what he was carrying before.

//

Amelia's POV

"I feel like I should tell you something." Anne said that night as she was helping me prepare for the feast.

"What is it?" I asked having noticed the slight unease she had on her face but had been waiting for her to say something.

"It is one of the maids that Bayard has brought with him." She revealed. "There is something about her that does not feel right."

"Could it be your magic telling you this?" I asked.

"I suppose if she was using magic, I'm not sure." She answered.

"I've noticed a maid staring at Merlin earlier. Are we talking about the same one? The one with that has a blue scarf wrapped around her head?" I questioned.

"Maybe. I suggest we keep an eye on her." Anne decided.

"Yes of course." I said thinking about how this woman could possibly be Nimueh. I did not say anything as I would then have to explain how I knew and Anne knew that I had not had a nightmare the last couple nights so I could not use that excuse.

//

Later that evening we were all in the hall of ceremonies watching Bayard sign the treaty. Well I tried to but I couldn't help but slightly giggle at Merlin in his outfit from my place on Morgana's left. He was standing by Gwen and Anne who were also laughing at him. I then saw Merlin hurriedly take off his feathered hat, I followed his eye-line and saw that he was staring at the mysterious handmaiden. I thought back to what Anne said about having a funny feeling about her. Was this how Nimueh poisoned Merlin? By slipping into Bayard's entourage?

Uther then finished signing the treaty and grasped arms with Bayard. We all applauded.

"People of Camelot," Bayard began. Oh great this was the fun bit, the speeches. "for a great many years we have been mortal enemies, and the blood of our men stains the ground from the walls of Camelot to the gates of Mercia. And though we remember those who have died, we must not allow any more to join them." A serving girl walked in, bringing in a box that revealed goblets inside. I frowned. Drink is quite a good way to poison someone, I thought.

"As a symbol of our goodwill, and of our newfound friendship," Bayard continued. "I present these ceremonial goblets to you, Uther, and to your son, Arthur, in the hope that our friendship may last." I was so focused on it I did not notice the maid approach Merlin and take him out of the room.

"Tonight we toast a new beginning for our peoples. We look towards a future free from the toils of war." Bayard spoke as the two goblets were handed out to Arthur and Uther.

Bayard eventually began his toast, "And may the differences from our past remain there. To your health, Uther." Every one stood with drinks in hand.

"Arthur." I could see Arthur nod then start to drink but he was stopped as Bayard continued.

"The Lady Morgana and Amelia." We both nod. Arthur waits this time.

"The people of Camelot." Arthur starts to drink again thinking the toast was finished.

"And to fallen warriors on both sides." Uther then said stopping Arthur again then after Uther had finished everyone started to drink.

"Stop!" Merlin cried running in. "It's poisoned! Don't drink it!" Merlin runs up to Arthur and takes his goblet. Ah now I vaguely remember this. How could I forget this. I am brain dead.

"What?" Uther asked obviously thinking about how a mere servant dared to interrupt.

"Merlin, what are you doing?" Arthur asked him.

"Bayard laced Arthur's goblet with poison." Merlin declared. Gotta admit he has confidence.

"This is an outrage!" Bayard shouted. Him and his men draw their swords and so do the knights of Camelot.

"Order your men to put down their swords." Uther ordered as Camelot guards rush in. "You are outnumbered."

"I will not allow this insult to go unchallenged!" Can't blame him for being angry.

"On what grounds do you base this accusation?" Uther asked Merlin.

"I'll handle this." Arthur said skirting around the table. "Merlin, you idiot. Have we been at the slow gin again?" He grabbed Merlin and takes the goblet.

"Unless you want to be strung up, you will tell me why you think why you think it's poisoned now." Uther ordered.

"He was seen lacing it." Merlin answered.

"By whom?" Uther asked.

"I can't say." Merlin answered. I, at this moment, looked around for the maid and I saw her peeking round a door in the corner of the room; she was smirking at the scene. Oh god she is Nimueh, I realised. I can't stop this now.

"I won't listen to this anymore." Bayard then says.

"Pass me the goblet." Uther says to Arthur, who hands it to him. "If you're telling the truth..."

"I am." Bayard interrupts.

"Then you have nothing to fear, do you?" Uther continued. Bayard sheathes his sword and reaches for the goblet.

"No. If this does prove to be poisoned, I want the pleasure of killing you myself." Uther says. Bayard snorts. Uther holds the goblet up to Merlin. "He'll drink it."

"But if it is poisoned, he'll die!" Arthur argued.

"Then we'll know he was telling the truth." Uther said not caring. Great detective work Uther, I thought.

"And what if he lives?" Bayard questions.

"Then you have my apologies, and you can do with him as you will." Uther answered.

"Uther, please! He's just a boy! He doesn't know what he's saying!" Gaius begged.

"Then you should've schooled him better."

"Merlin, apologise. This is a mistake. I'll drink it." Arthur says reaching for the goblet.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's, it's alright." Merlin says pushing Arthur's hands away and putting the goblet out of his reach.

"Please Merlin." I begged trying to walk up to him but a guard stops me before I make fully around the table.

Merlin gives me a small smile before toasting to Bayard and Arthur, then drinks. I see Nimueh watching with glee. Gwen takes a few steps forward in her anxiety.

"It's fine." Merlin says after taking a sip.

"He's all yours." Uther says. As guards walk towards him, Merlin begins to choke and falls to the floor unconscious.

"It's poisoned. Guards seize him!" Camelot guards and knights rush forward to arrest Bayard and his entourage. Arthur, Anne, Gaius and Gwen crouch over Merlin. Morgana grabbed a butter knife and shoved a fork into my hand. Thank you Morgana I feel so safe.

"Merlin. Can you hear me? We have to get him back to my chambers. Bring the goblet. I need to identify the poison." Gaius orders. Arthur picks up Merlin and Gwen grabs the goblet. I quickly rush after them, fork in hand, before anyone can stop me.

//

Arthur enters Gaius' chambers carrying Merlin with Gaius, Anne, Gwen and I following.

"Lay him on the bed quickly; he's struggling to breathe. Gwen, fetch me some water and Anne get a towel." Gaius ordered.

"Is he going to be alright?" Arthur asked worriedly sitting down by the bed Merlin now lay on as I hovered behind him, the others darted around doing various tasks.

"He's burning up." Gaius said not answering him sitting down on Merlin's other side.

"You can cure him, can't you Gaius?" Gwen asked as Anne handed him a towel.

"I won't know until I can identify the poison." Gaius answered putting the towel on Merlin's forehead. "Pass me the goblet."Gwen hands it to him."Ah. There's something stuck on the inside." He said standing up before walking over to a table nearby. Gwen took over his task.

"What is it?" I asked following with Arthur behind me. Anne took the seat Arthur had vacated.

"It looks like a flower petal of some kind." Gaius said taking out of the goblet and holding it up to get a better look.

"His brow's on fire." Gwen called to us.

"Keep him cool; it'll help control his fever." Gaius instructed her before pulling out a book and flicking through it to find what he was looking for. "Ah. The petal comes from the Mortaeus flower. It says here that someone poisoned by the Mortaeus can only be saved by a potion made from the leaf of the very same flower. It can only be found in the caves deep beneath the Forest of Balor. The flower grows on the roots of the Mortaeus tree."

"That's not particularly friendly." Arthur said pointing at a beast on the page.

"A Cockatrice." Gaius explained. "It guards the forest. Its venom is potent. A single drop would mean certain death. Few who have crossed the Mountains of Isgaard in search of the Mortaeus flower have made it back alive." Isgaard sounds a bit Viking, I thought.

Arthur stepped away from the table. I could see he was debating on what to do. "Sounds like fun." He then decided.

"My lord, it's too dangerous." Anne suddenly said.

"If I don't get the antidote, what happens to Merlin?" Arthur asked Gaius. He knew he needed to go.

"The Mortaeus induces a slow and painful death. He may hold out for four, maybe five days, but not for much longer. Eventually he will die." Gaius answered. Arthur then walked out of the chambers with me scurrying after him.

//

After telling Arthur that I would go with him no matter what he said, the next person we went to was Uther as Arthur insisted that we needed to despite me telling him that Uther would not listen. So there we were a change of clothes later walking down the red Ribbon corridor, trying, and failing, to persuade Uther to give permission for us to go.

"What's the point of having people to taste for you if you're going to get yourself killed anyway?" Uther asked.

"We won't fail, no matter what you think." Arthur insisted.

"Arthur, you are my only son and heir and Amelia you are my ward, you are in my care. I can't risk losing the both of you for the sake of some serving boy." Uther said.

"Oh, because his life's worthless?" I asked.

"No, because it's worth less than yours." Uther answered. Wow…

"We can save him. Let me take some men-" Arthur began.

"No." Uther interrupted.

Arthur continued as if he hadn't, "We'll find the antidote and bring it back-"

"No." Uther interrupted again.

"Why not?!" Arthur shouted.

"Because one day I will be dead and Camelot will need a king. I'm not going to let you jeopardise the future of this kingdom over some fool's errand." Uther said.

"It's not a fool's errand. Gaius says that if we can get the antidote..." I began to say.

"Oh, Gaius says? That's exactly what makes it so." Uther said sarcastically. To be honest I was not entirely sure what he meant by that.

"Please, Father. He saved my life. I can't stand by and watch him die." Arthur begged.

"Then don't look. This boy won't be the last to die on your behalf. You're going to be King. It's something you'll have to get used to." Uther said. Great parenting Uther.

"I can't accept that." Arthur said.

"Neither can I." I said in agreement.

"You're not going."Uther ordered.

"You can't stop me." Arthur said.

"Damn it, Arthur, that's an end to it! You're not leaving this castle tonight." Uther demanded. I opened my mouth and before I could say I was still going, he said, "Neither are you Amelia." I pursed my lips in annoyance.

//

Third Person POV

In Arthur's chambers, Arthur storms in, tosses his sword onto the table, and leans over the fireplace breathing heavily in anger and frustration. Morgana enters.

"Say what you like about the food, but you can't beat our feast for entertainment." Morgana says.

Arthur turns to her. "Morgana, I'm sorry, I should have made sure you were alright."

"Disappointed actually. I was looking forward to clumping a couple around the head with a ladle." She said.

"I'm sure the guards could have handled Bayard and his men." Arthur tells her.

"Yeah, but why let the boys have all the fun?" Morgana remarked only half joking.

"Morgana, you shouldn't get involved. It's dangerous." Arthur lectured.

Morgana rolled her eyes. "Spare me the lecture, I've already had it from Uther."

"If it's any consolation, you weren't the only one." Arthur mutters in annoyance. "Amelia tell you about him not allowing us to go to save Merlin?"

"Amelia has already told me. I have you know that I do not always listen to Uther's lectures. Sometimes you've got to do what you think is right, and damn the consequences." Morgana says.

"You think I should go?" Arthur stated rather than questioned.

"It doesn't matter what I think." Morgana responds.

Arthur walked over to Morgana, "If I don't make it back, who will be the next king of Camelot? There's more than just my life at stake." She must realise the risks, he thought.

"And what kind of king would Camelot want? One that would risk his life to save that of a lowly servant?" Morgana draws Arthur's sword. "Or one who does what his father tells him to?" Morgana presents Arthur with the sword. "Plus Amelia is already getting her horse." She says to add some extra persuasion.

"What?" Arthur exclaimed.

//

Amelia's POV

I was walking out of the stables with my horse and also my supplies that were already attached to the saddle, when I looked up and saw Arthur storming towards me.

"Coming along then?" I asked cheekily.

"I could not leave you to go by your self." He answered. "Have you forgotten about the Cockatrice?"

"No. Just felt that saving Merlin was more important than cowardice."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at me. "Just let me get my horse and we will be on our way."

"Good. We've already wasted enough time."

Before too long Arthur and I were riding across the drawbridge.

"Halt!" The guards exclaimed trying to stop us but we just rode past them out of Camelot.

//

Third Person POV

"He's getting hotter." Anne called to Gaius who was standing by the window in his chambers while Anne sat next to Merlin's bed trying to bring the temperature down.

"Him. Liffrea, wuldres wealdend, woroldare forgeaf." Merlin began to mutter. Anne looked to Gaius, who had just sat next to her, in alarm while Gaius glanced over to Gwen.

"What language is that?" Gwen questioned from the other side of the bed.

"None. The fever's taken hold. None of those words are his own." Gaius said to cover up Merlin's use of magic. "His pulse is weaker." While holding Merlin's left arm, Gaius finds a large circular rash on Merlin's arm.

"What is it?" Gwen asked having noticed that he seemed startled.

Gaius pulls down Merlin's sleeve to fully reveal the rash. "That can't be right. The rash is not supposed to appear until the final stage."

"What does that mean?" Gwen asked. Anne was beginning to frown, an expression she almost always seemed to have nowadays.

Gaius stood up, Gwen and Anne following, and walked towards a table to check his book with a magnifying glass. "It says here that "once a rash appears, death will follow within two days."" Anne and Gwen looked at him in alarm.

"You said he had four days. Has it been accelerated?" Anne asked thinking of the most obvious way someone could do that.

"Quite. Something's increased the flower's potency." Gaius agreed. "It warns that "the effect of the Mortaeus will be more rapid if an enchantment is used during the flower's preparation."" He read.

"An enchantment? But Bayard's no sorcerer." Gwen stated.

"No he isn't." Gaius said in deep thought.

"Then who did this?" Gwen questioned.

"That girl!" Anne exclaimed. Gaius and Gwen looked to her in question. "That serving girl from Bayard's group took Merlin outside just before he stormed in."

"She had dark hair. Very beautiful." Gwen murmured realising who Anne was talking about.

"Find her. Quickly." Gaius instructed. Anne and Gwen darted from the room.

Gaius moved to sit next to Merlin, who began muttering, "Arthur... swa..."

//

Amelia's POV

Arthur and I ride on our horses through the countryside and though the mountains, soon we approach a large forest.

//

Third Person POV

Back in Gaius' chambers, Merlin stirs restlessly while Gaius inspects Merlin's rash with is magnifying glass. Anne and Gwen enter. Gaius looked up, "Let me guess, she wasn't there."

"No one has seen her since the banquet. Who is she?" Gwen questioned.

"Not who she claims to be." Gaius vaguely answered.

"But you know, don't you?" Anne asked knowingly.

"Cara. Though, that's not her name. Not her real name, anyway." Gaius said.

"Then who is she?" Gwen asked.

"A powerful sorceress." Gaius finally said.

"Well, we should tell Uther. Maybe he could send riders out after her." Gwen said.

Anne shook her head. "I do not know whether that is wise." She said.

"It does not matter, she'll be long gone. It's impossible to know where, though." He said before realising, "Oh, no."

"What?" Anne asked wondering what he had just realised.

Gaius stands. "She knows the only place an antidote can be found is the Forest of Balor. Arthur could be walking into a trap."

"Arthur. Arthur." Merlin muttered causing the other three people in the room to look at him.

//

Amelia's POV

Once we entered the forest of Balor, both us dismounted our horses and began to lead them through the forest.

"Ugh…" I groaned. "Never going to get used to horses being my mode of transport."

"Well the only alternative we had was walking. Could not exactly bring a carriage with us." Arthur said. I didn't respond as I knew my list of things that would be easier and quicker would not make sense to him.

After walking a while we came to a clearing where we saw the back of a woman sitting on a fallen log crying. Arthur ties his horse to a branch and approaches her as she sits with bruises on her arms. I stood back feeling unsure. Was this Nimueh?

"Hello?" Arthur called out. "Are you alright?" He asked coming around in front of her. Then a roar happened causing the woman to scream. A Cockatrice comes over the slight hill towards us. Arthur stands up. "Arthur!" I exclaimed in worry now walking forward so that I was next to the woman.

Now that I was standing next to her, I noticed that she did not look like the serving girl at the castle but now looked more familiar. I was pretty sure this was Nimueh but I could not be certain as it had been so long since I had seen her face. I knew, due to my notes on the episode, that she would probably be there.

"Stay back." Arthur instructed. The Cockatrice lunges, Arthur rolls under it as it jumps, then throws his sword, killing it. Nimueh grimaces. Arthur looks at her and she gets up and backs away in pretend fear.

"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." Arthur said reassuringly. I stopped myself from saying anything. "Who did that to you?" Arthur points to her bruises.

"My master. I ran away from him, but then I got lost. Please don't leave me." Now that I knew she was faking, I could see right through her performance. Try a bit more Nimueh.

"I won't. I'm not going to." Arthur said. Though in second thought maybe not as she seemed to be fooling Arthur pretty well.

"You can take me away from here?" Nimueh pathetically begged as Arthur began to walk around her.

"Not yet." I spoke up. "There's something we have to do first." I gave Arthur a pointed look. Arthur looks at the cave mouth. What a coincidence that she was right in front of where we needed to go.

Nimueh noticed, "Why have you come to the caves?" Arthur walked over to our horses to untie them.

"We are looking for something. It can only be found here." Arthur answered.

"What is it? I know this place; I could help you." Nimueh said trying to sound innocent but was overly doing it. How convenient that she is here to help.

"It's a type of flower that only grows inside the cave. It's very rare." Arthur tells her. I sort of didn't want him to tell her but at the same time he needed to so we could find the flower in the first place.

Arthur walks over to us with the horses and hands me the reigns of mine. "The Mortaeus flower? I know where they are. I'll show you." Nimueh tells us. Arthur looked at me and I reluctantly nodded. He then followed Nimueh, who had begun walking away from us. I reluctantly followed them. Not long after that we all entered the cave with torches in each of our hands.

//

Third Person POV

In Gaius' chambers Merlin lay on the bed drenched in sweat. "Arthur, it...it's a trap. It's a trap."

"His fever's getting worse, isn't it?" Gwen said from Merlin's left looking at him with concern. There couldn't be any other reason to what he was saying she thought.

"The poison's setting in." Gaius said from the end of the bed.

Merlin began to chant again. "eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume."

Anne stroked a wet cloth on his forehead from her seat on Merlin's other side. "Shh." She did not want Gwen to get anymore suspicious especially with the look she has on her face.

"Could you fetch me some more Wolfbane?" Gaius asks Gwen hoping to distract her.

"Yes, of course." She says snapping out of her suspicious thoughts and left the room.

"Merlin, you must fight it." Gaius says to him.

"He will." Anne said stroking Merlin's arm in comfort with her free hand.

//

Amelia's POV

After walking through the caves, we reached the end of the tunnel to a part of the cave that opened up to a ledge with a long drop and a narrow ledge on the other side.

"There they are." Nimueh said pointing to the flowers on the wall across the large drop. I did not like how dark it seemed down there.

Arthur walked forward and looks down. "Keep back from the edge. Don't worry. We'll be out of here soon. Amelia you stay with her." I nodded. Arthur began walking across the part of the ledge that jutted out across most of the drop.

I then heard Nimueh begin to chant. "Eorthe, lyft, fyr, waeter, hiersumie me." The cave begins to shake. "Eorthe ac stanas hiersumie me. Ic can stanas tobrytan..." I lunge forward in an attempt to stop her but she just raised her hand and I flew back, but thankfully not down the drop, knocking me out.

Third Person POV

"What are you doing?!" Arthur cried looking over to Amelia in worry. He could see a cut on her forehead. Thankfully it was her torch that fell down the drop.

"...hiersumie me." Nimueh finished. Arthur drops his torch as the rock falls out beneath him. He jumps for the opposite ledge and catches it with his hands.

"I expected so much more." Nimueh says.

"Who are you?!" Arthur yells to her trying to keep his grip.

"The last face you'll ever see." Nimueh sates. A giant spider creeps up from the dark depths. "It seems we have a visitor." Arthur edges away from the spider, draws his sword and kills the spider while dangling from the ledge.

"Very good." Nimueh praised. "But he won't be the last. I'll let his friends finish you off, Arthur Pendragon. It's not your destiny to die at my hand. Nor is it the Lady Amelia's. Her past is more complicated then you realise." She leaves with the torch, leaving Arthur dangling from the ledge in the dark with Amelia laying unconscious on the other side of the drop.

"Who are you?!" Arthur yelled after her but he gets no answer.

//

"Arthur. It's too dark. Too dark. Fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme. Fromum feohgiftum." Merlin chanted from his bead.

"Something is glowing." Anne said. Gaius moved to the other side of the bed and sees the glowing coming from under the bed sheets.

"Merlin." Gaius said in surprise. He folds the bed sheet to see Merlin holds a glowing ball of light in his hand. "What are you doing?"

"He's helping Arthur." Anne realised. "That's why he has been chanting, he is trying to help him."

"Leave them, Arthur." Merlin says. "Go. Save yourself. Follow the light. Faster. Go faster. Follow the light! Move. Climb."

Back in the cave, Arthur is able to find and collect the flower after being guided by the light Merlin had sent. As soon as he collects the flower he climbs the rest of the way out of the cave through the entrance the light disappears through away from the many spiders climbing after him. The light then disappears from Merlin's hand.

//

Amelia's POV

I woke up not knowing how long I had been out but I realised that the whole cave had gone completely dark. I slowly got up staggering slightly as I felt dizzy and my vision blurred. I looked around as if I could see where Arthur was in this darkness when I suddenly heard the sound of scuttling not far from me. I then realised that it sounded like an large insect, probably spiders, and, despite my head hurting, I immediately ran through the cave to what I hoped was the entrance.

While running I kept on stumbling into the walls of the cave before I eventually found light and staggered out to find our horses where Arthur and I had left them. "Thank god I found you two." I said falling onto my horse's side.

I must have closed my eyes because I was suddenly startled by Arthur yelling my name. "Amelia!" He yelled walking up to me. "Thank god you made it out! I was going back in to save you!"

"Amelia?" He asked when I did not look at him. "Your head looks worse!"

"I feel a bit dizzy Arthur." I said before falling and everything going black. The last thing I hear is Arthur yelling.

//

Third Person POV

Arthur rides back to Camelot with Amelia balanced on his lap with her horse attached to the saddle on the horse he rode. He kept looking at her in concern. He had treated the wound on her head the best he could till he got her to Gaius.

Guards spot Arthur from the battlements. "Inform the King! Arthur has returned to Camelot!" One called Patrick ordered.

Arthur rides up to the drawbridge gate, however, guards block his way. "What are you doing? Let me pass." He said.

"I'm sorry, Sire. You're under arrest, by order of the King." Says Patrick.

Arthur sighed resigned, "Fine, but at least take the Lady Amelia to the physician."

"Of course Sire." Says Patrick nodding to one of the other guards to take her from Arthur.

//

In Gaius' chambers, Anne sat next to Amelia who had been placed on another bed in the room. Anne had been treating her while Gaius focused on Merlin.

At that moment, Gwen walked in. "He hasn't got much longer. Has Arthur got the flower?" Gaius asked.

"I don't know. Uther won't allow anyone to see him." Gwen said. "Is there nothing we can do to help?"

"Only the leaf of the Mortaeus flower can save him." Gaius tells her.

"And we have to find out if Arthur has it. I could sneak into the dungeon." Gwen said.

"That would be very dangerous."

"I've got to. Merlin will die if I don't." Gwen says determined. Merlin made a noise showing that he was struggling to breathe.

"Be careful." Gaius said knowing they had no other option. Gwen then left the room.

Suddenly Morgana burst in. "Amelia!" She cried seeing the woman she saw as a sister lying on one of the beds. She rushed over to her cradling her head in concern.

"She will be alright my lady." Anne reassures her.

//

Amelia's POV

I felt very groggy as I woke up and when I tried opening my eyes it was too bright and I had to immediately close my eyes with a groan.

"Amelia?" A voice asked. Was that Morgana. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was Arthur finding me in the forest.

I attempted to open my eyes again, finding it easier this time. I looked around noticed that other than Morgana, Anne was also looking at me. "Hi?" I said feeling awkward under their stares.

"Oh thank god!" Morgana cried lunging at me, giving me a very tight hug.

"I still need to breathe Morgana." I rasped.

"Oh sorry." She immediately said. She leant back and stroked my hair out of my face.

"Am I back in Camelot?" I asked. Recognising the room as Gaius' chambers.

"You are. Arthur brought you back. Gwen is finding out if he has the Mortaeus flower." Anne said.

"Why hasn't he brought it?" I asked confused. My mind felt a bit foggy.

"Uther arrested him." Morgana said with a roll of her eyes. I tried to remember why we were getting the flower in the first place but it hurt my head.

"Oh right." I said. "Why were we getting it again?" Anne and Morgana looked at each other with worry, but before they could answer me, I heard the sound of someone struggling to breathe. I looked over and saw that it was Merlin who had made the noise; he looked close to death. "Oh." I vaguely recalled Merlin poisoning himself now. I was beginning to get a bit worried now. How had I forgotten that?

//

Third Person POV

Later on Gwen comes rushing in holding the flower. By this point Morgana had Amelia moved to her own chamber so she could continue to rest there.

"How is he?" Gwen asked.

"Have you got the Mortaeus?" Gaius asks.

"Here." Gwen hands it to him.

"His breathing's much worse. We have to hurry." Anne says. Gwen sits down next to Merlin's sickbed as Gaius begins crushing the flower leaf. He suddenly stops after a few seconds.

"Why have you stopped?" Gwen asks having noticed his actions.

"The poison was created using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote." His eyes flickered to Anne's, who was looking at him with worry.

"But we can't. It's forbidden. Even if we could." Gwen reminds him. Not that he really needed it.

"I'll try and make it work without it. Oh, I need some fresh water." Gaius said to get her to leave the room. He hands her a bowl and she runs off. Gaius lifts the bowl he's holding.

"Sythan..." Gaius stops and looks around, nervous to be practicing magic again.

"Maybe I should do it." Anne says walking over to him. Gaius hands it to her and tells her what she needs to say. "Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum." Anne chants. The potion sizzles and foams for a moment. Gwen runs back in and hands him the bowl of water before rushing back to Merlin's side.

"Thank you." Gaius says to her. Gaius pours the potion into a small cup and goes to Merlin. "Hold his nose." Gwen pinches Merlin's nose as Gaius pours the potion into Merlin's mouth. "Swallow, Merlin. Swallow it."

After a moment, Merlin goes still. "He's stopped breathing. What's happening? Gaius?" Gwen asks.

Gaius puts his head to Merlin's chest. "His heart has stopped."

"He's dead?" Anne asks eyes beginning to water.

"He can't be. He can't be. It was his destiny." Gaius says standing up.

"It's my fault. If I'd have got here sooner. If I'd have been quicker." Gwen gets up and cries in Gaius' arms with Anne joining them.

"No, no. It was me. I should've looked after him better. It's my fault." Gaius says.

Suddenly a voice they thought they would never hear agin. "That's disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself. You're old enough to be their grandfather."

They all broke away from each other to see Merlin trying to sit up. "Merlin. You're alive." Gaius cries with happiness.

"No. I'm the ghost come back to haunt you." Merlin remarked feeling very relived that he had not actually died. Gwen suddenly grabbed Merlin's face and kisses him with relief. Anne's eyebrows shot up in surprise; Anne knew Gwen had a slight crush on Merlin but she thought that Gwen would never have the confidence to outright kiss him.

"Sorry, I'm just...I thought you were dead." Gwen stammered.

"It's fine. It's more than fine. ...erm...what happened? The last thing I remember is drinking the wine." Merlin asked confused looking at the three people next to him.

"Well…I'm not sure where to begin." Anne said with a small smile causing them to chuckle.

//

Amelia's POV

I was laying in my bed due to the fact I had been ordered to stay there to recover my health. I wanted to see Merlin but Gaius and Anne reassured me he is fine and alive. Everyone was already concerned about me because a few bits of my memory from the years I have been here was missing. While it was not a massive worry as they will probably come back but I was even concerned with the fact that when I tried to remember what happened next in the show, I found I remembered even less than I did before even main plot points were slipping my mind now.

I obviously had not told anyone about this but I was very worried as I had hoped to change certain bits for the better. Now I might not be able to due to the fact that the notes I had made were vague at best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened. Anyway couple ideas? Let me know.


End file.
